


Future

by Tigergirl1223



Category: The Good Doctor (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Character of Color, Bisexual Female Character, Bisexuality, Drama, F/F, F/M, Hospital, LGBTQ, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Character of Color, LGBTQ Female Character, LGBTQ Female Character of Color, LGBTQ Romance, Limlendez, Medical, San Jose, San Jose St Bonaventure, San Jose St Bonaventure Hospital, Shaire, St Bonaventure, medical drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:21:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22588591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tigergirl1223/pseuds/Tigergirl1223
Summary: A look into the future of some of our favorite characters along with a few of my own characters.
Relationships: Audrey Lim/Neil Melendez, Claire Browne/Shaun Murphy, Mei-Li Lim-Melendez/Caroline Cho
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

It was the first day for several new residents at San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. Dr. Megan Augustine went to find the locker room so she could change into scrubs and prepare for her first day as a surgical resident. She walked through the long corridors before finally finding the locker room and there was only one other person there when she arrived. Megan smiled politely at her but didn’t say anything. Finally, the other resident closed her locker door and smiled at Megan, “You must be one of the new residents.”

“Uh, yeah,” said Megan, shaking the other girl’s hand, “Hi, I’m Megan.”

“Mei-Li,” she answered, “It’s Mandarin for beautiful,” she explained the translation.

“I see,” said Megan.

“Most people ask,” Mei-Li said honestly and shrugged her shoulders, “Come on. We’re supposed to meet in the main conference room.”

Megan followed Mei-Li and as they walked the halls, Megan noticed something strange. First, a blonde doctor walked by them and when she realized who at least Mei-Li was, she smiled and said, “Hi Mei-Li.”

“Dr. Reznick,” responded Mei-Li.

They continued walking and another doctor noticed them. He didn’t look them directly in the eyes, but he also greeted, “Hi Mei-Li.”

“Hi Dr. Murphy,” Mei-Li nodded at him, much to Megan’s confusion.

They arrived at the conference room and residents of all year levels were there along with the blonde doctor. Finally, she cleared her throat to gain everyone’s attention, “Good morning everyone. If you could all please have a seat,” they all sat down and she began, “For those of you who are first year residents, my name is Dr. Morgan Reznick. I am the assistant Chief of Surgery here at St. Bonaventure. I also serve in a supervisory capacity in the operating room as well as other departments such as the emergency room and radiology. I’d like to welcome our first year residents and I ask that they stay behind for a few moments after this meeting. Third year residents, you know per hospital policy you will be allowed to lead your first solo surgery should the right case come along. Fifth year residents, you will be meeting with me as well as Dr. Melendez tomorrow about various needs concerning you. You are all dismissed,” everyone left except for Mei-Li, Megan, and one other doctor, a man with light brown hair and thick, dark glasses. Morgan smiled at everyone and said, “Well I’d like to officially welcome all you to San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital. In addition to myself and our Chief of Surgery, Dr. Neil Melendez, you will be supervised by several of our top attending surgeons: Dr. Shaun Murphy and Dr. Claire Browne-Murphy, attending cardiothoracic surgeons, and Dr. Alex Park, attending trauma surgeon. Today you will all be assisting Dr. Browne-Murphy in the OR. I will see you all tomorrow.”

The three residents left the conference room when the man hastened his stride to catch up to Megan and Mei-Li, “Hi, I’m Eric,” he said enthusiastically.

“Megan,” Megan introduced herself.

“And…you,” Eric trailed off when his eyes landed on Mei-Li.

“Mei-Li,” she answered. They arrived at the appropriate operating room where they met up with Claire. They assisted with the procedure and shadowed her for the day before their shifts ended.

As the three of them were on their way to the locker room, Megan said, “I’m surprised we didn’t meet the hospital president. Normally they’re present when new residents are introduced.”

“I’m sure she’s busy,” commented Mei-Li.

“I know, but I’d love to introduce myself to her. Make a good impression,” said Megan.

 _“Great, she’s one of those residents,”_ thought Mei-Li. Mei-Li glanced at a certain door and said, “If you wait here, I can see if she’s available to meet you both.”

Both Megan and Eric looked surprised but nodded as they watched Mei-Li approach an office door and knock. A few moments later, an older woman who appeared to be in her early sixties appeared, immediately gaining a look of pride upon seeing Mei-Li. She laid her hands on Mei-Li’s shoulders and as they observed, Eric leaned closer to Megan and asked, “Do hospital presidents always show this much affection towards their residents?”

Megan shook her head, “Something’s going on. It seems that everyone here already knows Mei-Li: doctors, nurses, even staff,” they went back to observing the president and fellow resident, where she squeezed Mei-Li’s shoulders before walking towards them. As they observed more, they could see the similarities between the two women: they both had the same hair color, though the president had streaks of gray throughout hers. They both had similar facial structures, the same eyes, the same noses, even the same stance in some respects.

She finally approached the two of them and smiled, “I apologize for not welcoming you this morning; I was meeting with several donors,” she introduced herself, “I’m Dr. Audrey Lim-Melendez, president of the hospital. It’s nice to meet you,” she shook their hands.

“I’m Dr. Megan Augustine; it’s a pleasure to meet you,” she said.

“Dr. Eric Harrison,” he shook Lim’s hand.

“Well, it was a pleasure meeting all of you. I’m sure I will see you around,” Lim smiled and headed back towards her office. 

Once Lim was out of earshot, Eric and Megan leaned closer to Mei-Li and Megan asked, “What the heck was that?”

“What was what?” asked Mei-Li in confusion.

“Before you brought Dr. Lim-Melendez over to us, you both seemed pretty close,” Eric mentioned.

Mei-Li was afraid it would come to this moment, but there was no getting around it: her fellow residents would find out eventually. She took a deep breath and said, “Well, I just introduced you to the president of St. Bonaventure, Dr. Audrey Lim-Melendez. She’s also known to me as Mom.” 


	2. Chapter 2

“I’m sorry?” Megan finally managed to squeak out. 

“Dr. Audrey Lim-Melendez is my mother,” said Mei-Li. 

Megan and Eric glanced down to look at the name on Mei-Li’s lab coat. It indeed said, Mei-Li Lim-Melendez, M.D., “Wait a minute?” Eric questioned, “So that means Dr. Neil Melendez, Chief of Surgery…is your father I assume?” 

Mei-Li nodded slowly, “Yes, he is.” 

“So the Chief of Surgery and the president of the hospital are married and you are their daughter?” Megan asked, though Mei-Li could tell it was a rhetorical question. 

“I think you know the answer,” said Mei-Li. The three residents made their way to the locker room, not conversing with each other anymore. Megan left without even saying goodbye to neither Eric nor Mei-Li. 

Once Megan was gone, Eric turned to Mei-Li and said, “Clearly she’s going to be the competitive one.” 

Mei-Li glanced over at Eric and chuckled, “You’re probably off the hook. I have the target on my back. I feel like I’m back in high school and have just been labeled as the principal’s kid.” 

“You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t earn it,” said Eric. 

Mei-Li leaned against her locker and said, “Dr. Harrison, with all due respect, we barely know each other.” 

“I know, but being the daughter of two high ranking surgeons probably means being a good physician is in your genes,” he whispered in amusement in her ear before he left the locker room. 

Mei-Li smiled and laughed. Eric was probably just trying to make her feel better, but Mei-Li was pretty certain he was threatened too. Mei-Li left and before she had even made it out the front entrance, Shaun came up behind her and said, “Hi Mei-Li.” 

Mei-Li turned and faced Shaun, “What do you need, Dr. Murphy?” 

“Our shifts are over. You can call me Dr. Shaun if you want,” said Shaun. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Mei-Li.

“Mm. Okay,” Shaun began to walk away. 

“Shaun, wait!” Mei-Li called out to him, “Can I talk to you about something? It’s important.” 

Shaun didn’t say anything, but instead, pulled out the key to his office and began walking towards it while Mei-Li followed. She knew where everyone’s offices were here at St. Bonaventure: Lim’s was the president’s suite, Melendez’s was the Chief of Surgery office, and Morgan’s was next door to Melendez. Shaun and Claire were in the cardiothoracic wing while Park’s was by the emergency room. When they finally reached Shaun’s office, Shaun asked, “What’s wrong, Mei-Li?” 

Mei-Li sat down on the sofa and asked, “Don’t you want to sit down too?” 

“I’d prefer not to,” said Shaun. 

Mei-Li nodded and continued, “When you first started at St. Bonaventure, you told me people didn’t like you because you’re autistic….” 

“But you don’t have autism, so you don’t have to worry about that,” Shaun interrupted. 

“I know,” said Mei-Li, “But think about it Shaun? My mother is the president; my father is the Chief of Surgery. How can I get through this residency without everyone thinking I only got here because of my parents?” 

Shaun stayed silent for a while before he said, “You won’t.” 

“Excuse me?” asked Mei-Li. 

“You won’t,” said Shaun. He finally sat down and said, “People didn’t like me at first because I have autism. Dr. Glassman, who was the president at the time, helped convince Dr. Andrews to hire me. Dr. Andrews and Dr. Melendez didn’t like me at first. They eventually learned to like me. But not everyone did learn to like me.” 

“So what are you saying?” asked Mei-Li. 

“You are Dr. Melendez and Dr. Lim-Melendez’s daughter. You can’t change that. Just like I can’t change the fact that I am autistic. It’s who I am. And being the president and Chief of Surgery’s daughter is who you are. You have a lot to prove. But even after you prove yourself, people will still think it is favoritism. But that’s okay, because you know what you are capable of,” Shaun paused, “Claire said you did a good job in surgery today. I trust her to tell the truth.” 

Mei-Li smiled and said, “Your marriage would be in trouble if you didn’t trust her.” 

“I know. But I trust her, so that’s why I married her,” said Shaun, oblivious to Mei-Li’s slight sarcasm, “I will see you tomorrow, Dr. Lim-Melendez.” 

“Thank you, Dr. Shaun,” said Mei-Li. 

************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

When Mei-Li arrived home later that evening, Lim was already setting dinner on the table. Lim smiled proudly and said, “There’s my little surgeon!” she came over and hugged and kissed Mei-Li. 

“Mom, I’m twenty-six,” Mei-Li whined jokingly. 

“And I don’t care how old you are, you’ll always be my Xiǎo jiǎozi, my little dumpling,” Lim smiled. 

Mei-Li figured it was best not to argue with Lim so she glanced over towards the dinner table and asked, “Did you make that extensive of a dinner?” 

“Oh God no. I ordered that extensive of a dinner. But I managed to keep it warm. Just a little something to celebrate your first day as a resident and since Carlos begins his senior year at Berkley next week, it’ll be an opportunity to celebrate you both. Your father and brother should be home from work soon.” 

The two women heard a rumbling from outside, so Mei-Li said, “Well, Carlos has arrived upon his chariot of death.” 

“Mei-Li,” Lim scolded. 

“Yeah, I know. Black Lightning and Wonder Woman are yours and Carlos’s most prized possessions,” Mei-Li said. While Mei-Li had been a mostly well-behaved child except maybe during her teenage years, Carlos had been rebellious almost since he was born. He was always climbing trees, skateboarding, or anything else that looked remotely dangerous. If it involved possible injury or death, Carlos was attracted to it. He had pretty much made a trip to St. Bonaventure’s emergency room annually. And now he was the proud owner of a Harley Davidson Iron 883. 

Not only did Carlos rebel with behavior, but also his life choices. As if buying a motorcycle over a car wasn’t enough, at least for Melendez—Lim had cried tears of sheer joy until Carlos bought a Harley over a Ducati—he had made sure not to buy a Ducati because that was Lim’s favorite motorcycle. When it came time for college, he had deliberately enrolled at the University of California, Berkley solely because it was Stanford’s rival and he didn’t want to be a legacy. Lim had described the choice as “my own flesh and blood betrayed me”. At least Carlos had the common sense to major in computer science since he had always been good with computers and other forms of technology, “Hey Mom, I’m home!” Carlos called. 

“Hi honey,” Lim kissed his cheek. 

“Well, if it isn’t my older sister, the hot shot doctor!” Carlos said excitedly as he placed his helmet next to Lim’s on the table inside the front door. 

“Very funny,” said Mei-Li sarcastically. 

Melendez arrived home a short time later and Lim poured the champagne before raising her glass and saying, “Well, I know you all hate it when I make toasts, so I’m going to do it just to torture you. As Mei-Li begins her residency and Carlos begins his senior year of college, I can’t help but admire the young woman and young man you’ve become. Here’s to a successful residency and a good senior year. And here’s to a year of Carlos losing his senior year rivalry football game to Stanford.” 

“Here here!” Mei-Li cheered jokingly just as Carlos shouted, “Just you wait!” 

Mei-Li knew it would be a long five years ahead, but with her family by her side, she felt that she could handle any challenges that came her way. Now if she could only gain the courage to face those challenges. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: This chapter talks about domestic violence and PTSD.  
> TW: This chapter talks about domestic violence and PTSD.  
> Also, I acknowledge the seriousness and uncertainty of the COVID_19 pandemic right now. Before Melendez's death on The Good Doctor, I was initially going to put this story on hold for that reason because of Audrey essentially contracting coronavirus. For those of you who have read Feelings or Comfort, you know I've built a foundation based on Audrey's experience with surviving this life-threatening illness. As such, this experience still affects her in this story, even though we are nearly thirty years into the future. Note that I will try to be as sensitive as I can be to our very new reality, as the situation is very different in every city, state/province, and every country even. That being said, I still felt the need to right Limlendez's future, the future we will never see thanks to the unnecessary, for shock value destruction of our ship.

Mei-Li’s first month of residency was extremely hectic, but she had learned a lot in those first four weeks. She learned to have a new found respect for her parents given the fact that she was barely functioning in life as only a resident; she had no idea how her mother and father handled being in the top two positions at St. Bonaventure plus manage to raise a family and keep a nearly thirty year marriage together. She had learned that Megan Augustine had absolutely no intention of being friendly with her or Eric. And lastly, she had learned how much she was meant for this job.

It was her very first overnight shift along with Megan and Eric and as of right now, there weren’t many patients other than one man under observation for pneumonia. Mei-Li went over towards Eric who was standing by the coffee maker, “Can you pour me a glass? I haven’t stayed up this late since I was in med school.”

Eric smiled and handed Mei-Li a steaming mug. Mei-Li hadn’t even gotten the chance to put cream and sugar in her coffee before Park announced, “Listen up everybody! We have two patients coming in: a mother and a child. Evidently, both took a tumble down the stairs. Eric, you’ll work on the mother with me! Mei-Li, Megan, you’ll work on the child!”

“Surprised she isn’t with you because you’ve know Mei-Li since she was in diapers,” Megan uttered under her breath. Mei-Li chose to ignore her snippy comment.

When the patient arrived, a young girl named Melanie, Mei-Li and Megan went straight to work examining her, “Hi Melanie, I’m Dr. Lim-Melendez and this is Dr. Augustine. We’re going to take care of you while Dr. Park and Dr. Harrison take care of your mommy. Where does it hurt?” asked Mei-Li.

“My arm hurts,” Melanie hiccupped, clearly scared of everything.

“She landed on her arm when my wife fell down the stairs,” said a fairly young gentleman. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties.

“Well, we should get an x-ray to make sure nothing is broken,” said Megan.

They both received permission from her father, Daniel, before rolling Melanie to radiology for an x-ray and her arm seemed to be fine, but she was complaining about hurting all over her body, so they sent her to ICU for monitoring just in case any other complications arose. Melanie’s mother, Suzanne, on the other hand, had sustained a head injury, so she was also sent to ICU to be monitored for any potential further head trauma.

It was about halfway through their shift and all of the residents stopped to take a break when it was announced that Suzanne was having a seizure; everyone went straight to work to try to stop it. All four of the physicians managed to stabilize Suzanne, but there was obviously something more causing her symptoms, “It could be a brain tumor that caused her to black out and that’s why she fell down the stairs,” said Eric.

“It could be from falling down the stairs that caused more brain damage than we realize,” said Megan.

“Any ideas, Dr. Lim-Melendez?” asked Park to Mei-Li.

Three sets of eyes landed on Mei-Li; Park and Eric’s looks were genuine, Megan’s had a hint of jealousy and iciness in hers, “Well, I agree that it could be a tumor. We should get an MRI to check for any abnormalities.”

Park nodded and said, “Get Suzanne to radiology stat. Dr. Harrison, Dr. Lim-Melendez, follow me. Dr. Augustine, continue to monitor Melanie.”

They conducted the MRI on Suzanne and the results were astounding. She had no tumors at all, but instead, the scans showed a traumatic brain injury. Once they wheeled Suzanne back to her room in the ICU, Daniel approached the three of them and asked, “How is she?”

Park sighed and said, “Follow me, sir,” Daniel followed them into Suzanne’s hospital room and said, “The results show a traumatic brain injury. It is what could have caused your seizure or your tumble down the stairs. How far up were you when you fell down the stairs?” asked Park.

Suzanne and Daniel looked at each other, like they were trying to formulate an answer, “I was only a few steps from the bottom,” admitted Suzanne, though she didn’t sound very sincere in her response. Park, with his natural suspicion as a result of being an ex-cop, didn’t fail to notice.

“Well, we’re going to keep you here overnight at least and monitor you to make sure you don’t have any more seizures; if you’re seizure free for twenty-four hours, you’ll be sent home with recovery and rehab instructions,” informed Mei-Li.

“Dr. Lim-Melendez, if you could conduct another neurological exam on Suzanne while Dr. Harrison and I go check on Melanie. You can come see her too, Daniel,” said Park.

Park, Eric, and Daniel left the room while Mei-Li began the exam, “I feel so stupid. I was only two steps from the bottom.”

“Sadly, accidents happen,” said Mei-Li.

“I don’t know what happened,” admitted Suzanne, “Sometimes I get dizzy spells and they’ve been happening for a while now, but I never thought this would happen.”

“You said you get dizzy spells?” asked Mei-Li for confirmation.

“Sometimes,” said Suzanne, “I’ve also been having trouble remembering things.”

“How long has this been going on?” asked Mei-Li. There were no tumors, so it couldn’t be that.

Suzanne sighed, “About three months to be honest. I just thought it was because our family has been adjusting to our post-deployment routine. Daniel’s in the military and he just got home a few months ago. He was diagnosed with PTSD recently and things have been rough. I mean, he’s been going through treatment, but it hasn’t been easy. He takes one step forward only to take two steps back.”

The words hit Mei-Li hard. She could only imagine what Suzanne was going through right now, “Well, I hope your husband feels better soon.”

“Thank you,” said Suzanne.

“I’ll check on you later,” said Mei-Li. Mei-Li left the room only to have Park motioning her into a conference room, “What’s going on?” asked Mei-Li.

“We need to call law enforcement,” Megan said bluntly.

“What? Why?” asked Mei-Li.

“Because Dr. Park could feel that something was off with Daniel and Suzanne. I was questioning Melanie about her mother’s accident and Melanie admitted to me that Suzanne didn’t fall down the stairs; she was pushed down them by Daddy. She’s also admitted that she’s seen Daddy hit Mommy and that Daddy has hit her too,” said Megan.

Mei-Li shook her head vigorously, “What? No!”

“Dr. Lim-Melendez, it could be a case of domestic violence…” Park tried to explain to her.

“Why, because Suzanne admitted that her husband is going through PTSD treatment?” Mei-Li asked.

“No, it’s not that at all,” Park assured Mei-Li, especially after he heard her say PTSD.

“It’s all the more reason to believe it could be domestic violence,” said Megan.

“Do you seriously hear yourself?” asked Mei-Li angrily stepping towards Megan.

“Mei-Li,” Park tried to diffuse the situation.

“So you’re just going to assume that every person who happens to have PTSD is automatically abusive towards their spouse and children?! They can’t possibly be loving husbands and fathers/wives and mothers?”

“Mei-Li, Megan does have a point…” interrupted Eric.

“No, she doesn’t!” Mei-Li snapped at him, “You could very well know someone who has PTSD, but you would never know it. There are plenty of reasons people develop PTSD, not just war. Someone could very easily develop PTSD in our own ER.” 

Park knew why Mei-Li was reacting the way she was, but there was no way Mei-Li would be able to think rationally, “Okay, I think it would be best to cool down and sleep on this case until we get more time to act.”

“So we get more time to make judgments,” shouted Mei-Li.

“No, Mei-Li, so we have time to absorb everything and not jump to conclusions,” explained Park.

“Hey!” someone shouted over all four of them. The four doctors turned to face the source of the noise and found their Chief of Surgery standing right in front of them, “I don’t know what you four are arguing about, but I need you all to report to my office now.”

******************************************************************************************************************************* 

Everyone reported to Melendez’s office and Melendez shut the door behind them before sitting behind his desk. He folded his hands and asked, “Dr. Park, what seems to be the issue?”

“Well, sir, we have a patient who fell down the stairs. She has a traumatic brain injury,” Park began.

“Her daughter is here as well for monitoring and she admitted to me that Daddy has hit both of them,” said Megan.

“But Dr. Park and Dr. Augustine are jumping to conclusions about it being a case of domestic violence just because our patient’s husband has PTSD,” Mei-Li quipped bitterly.

“Dr. Lim-Melendez,” Melendez scolded lightly, indicating for Mei-Li to be quiet, “Is this true, Dr. Park?”

“Dr. Augustine and I suspected DV before Dr. Lim-Melendez even mentioned about the husband having PTSD, sir,” said Park.

Melendez took a deep breath and said, “Well, we certainly don’t want to jump to any hasty conclusions or assumptions. We should do everything we can to make sure it is indeed domestic violence before we report anything to the police. In the meantime, we should review the patients’ medical histories to see if there are any patterns of injuries or ER visits or see if the patient mentions anything more. Also, Dr. Lim-Melendez, I am taking you off of this case.”

“What why?” asked Mei-Li, angrily crossing her arms over her chest.

“Because I am your boss and because we do not need three residents assigned to one case,” Melendez clarified, “Everyone except Dr. Lim-Melendez is dismissed.”

Eric, Megan, and Park left the office and Park shut the door behind him. Mei-Li faced her father and asked, “Dr. Melendez, is there a reason why I’m still here?”

Melendez motioned towards the couch in his office and Mei-Li sat down next to him, “Mija,” he softened his voice, “As surgeons, we can’t let our personal feelings affect our work or our attitudes towards our patients. This case would be too personal for you.”

“No it wouldn’t,” argued Mei-Li.

“Yes, it would,” said Melendez firmly, “You might think it wouldn’t, but it could. My decision stands.”

Mei-Li shook her head a little before she said, “I’ve seen Mom have flashbacks right in front of me or heard her wake up screaming because she’s dealing with nightmares. I know the anniversary of the quarantine makes her feel on edge, that she can’t work on December 3, and that she needs to take Xanax whenever we fly because she’s afraid she’ll get sick at the airport. But no matter how bad it got, not once did I ever think Mom would hurt you, me, or Carlos.”

“I know mija,” said Melendez, “But the sad reality is every trauma and every case of PTSD is different. We can’t make assumptions either way. Which is why I’m not going to report right away until we have more reason to believe it’s domestic violence.”

Mei-Li resisted the urge to reach out and hug her father, if only to avoid rumors from Megan about her receiving favoritism, “Okay,” Mei-Li stood to leave, “I’ll see you later tonight.”

******************************************************************************************************************************************* 

Melendez arrived home later that night. Mei-Li had decided to go out with some of the other residents at the last minute, so it was just him and Lim. After he hung up his coat and set his briefcase down, be found Lim eating some carry out Chinese food watching _The Avengers_ on TV. She turned to face him when she heard noise and smiled at him, “Hi.”

“Hi,” he answered and kissed her.

“I bought you shrimp fried rice,” she said holding up the other container.

“Thanks,” he said and sat down next to her on the couch.

“Where’s Mei-Li?” Lim asked.

“She went out with Augustine and Harrison,” said Melendez. Lim nodded and went back to the movie. Melendez grabbed her hand and said, “I love you so much.”

Lim chuckled and said, “I love you too, but why the mushiness?”

“No reason,” said Melendez, taking a bite of shrimp fried rice.

Lim smiled softly before turning to face the TV to continue watching her movie. Soon, Melendez grabbed her hand and rubbed soothing circles on top of it.


	4. Chapter 4

Mei-Li arrived at work the next morning and Melendez had assigned her with Shaun for the next case, so she approached him at the main desk and smiled at him, “Hi Dr. Murphy.”

Shaun looked over at her and said, “Hi Mei-Li.”

“So, it looks like we’ll be working together on the next case,” said Mei-Li.

“Yes,” Shaun nodded, “We have a thirty-five year old man who is complaining of heart palpitations and chest pain.”

“So how are Steven and Lydia?” asked Mei-Li, following Shaun to their patient’s hospital room.

“They’re teenagers. They talk back to me and Claire a lot,” Shaun answered stoically, “Lydia got her first period last month.”

Mei-Li pulled Shaun a little closer and said, “Um, Shaun, that’s not an appropriate thing to announce.”

“Why not? It’s a natural biological function of women,” said Shaun.

“Still,” said Mei-Li.

“Okay,” said Shaun. They walked into the room and Shaun looked over the chart and said, “Are you Matthew Davidson?”

The man nodded, “Yes.”

“I’m Dr. Shaun Murphy and this is Dr. Mei-Li Lim-Melendez. It says you were running when you felt chest pain and palpitations?”

“That’s correct,” said Matthew.

“Have you ever experienced those symptoms before now?” asked Mei-Li.

“Occasionally, but I’ve been training for a marathon. It’s gotten worse over the past few weeks,” explained Matthew.

“Well, we need to conduct a few tests before we can determine a diagnosis,” said Shaun.

Shaun and Mei-Li examined Matthew and determined he needed to have an echocardiogram and an MRI done before they decided on a diagnosis. In the meantime, while they were waiting for Matthew’s MRI results, Megan came over and asked, “Do you have the other case files of Suzanne Anderson’s past visits?” the staff member nodded and handed them to Megan, “Thank you.”

“Are you still hung up on that BS theory?” asked Mei-Li snippily.

Megan looked over at Mei-Li, “For your information, it’s not some BS theory; it’s a very real possibility that you don’t want to acknowledge for some reason. And second of all, _your_ father authorized for us to do it. You know, after he kicked you off of the case?”

“He didn’t kick me off of the case; he simply said that there only needs to be two residents on the case and I happened to be the one he chose to eliminate,” said Mei-Li.

“Only because you refuse to accept the truth,” said Megan.

“What truth?” said Mei-Li turning to face her, “The fact that you buy into the myth that all people with PTSD are violent? You know less than 8% of individuals who suffer from PTSD actually commit an act of violence.”

“And what if Daniel is one of those 8%?” Megan argued back.

“But there’s a 92% chance he’s not,” said Mei-Li, “And you clearly don’t have an ounce of empathy for Suzanne and Melanie.”

“Well, I’m at least trying to get them out of an abusive situation, unlike you. So, in reality, I’m the one with more empathy,” snapped Megan.

Mei-Li took a deep breath and said, “Look, to try to give you an idea of what PTSD is REALLY like, imagine that one day, you’re sick at home with a really bad cold watching a movie. Your baby brother is napping upstairs, your father is out getting diapers and cough medicine, and your mother is home taking care of you. You start coughing and one minute, you’re on the couch, the next minute, you’re locked in your parents’ bedroom without a clue of what’s going on. You’re being told over and over again that you have to keep yourself away from everyone else so you won’t infect them. You’re scared because you don’t know why this person is acting this way, you’re being told over and over again ‘I’m not going to let you die’, and then, your father gets home. He comes upstairs and your five year old self has to figure out how to unlock the door and watch everything unfold and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it because you’re five years old. So don’t you DARE say I don’t have any empathy for Suzanne and Melanie. You understand me?”

Megan didn’t say anything more, but instead, grabbed the case files and silently left.

***************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Later that day, Mei-Li was getting ready to finish her shift when Lim came up beside her. Lim said, “So, I heard you told off Dr. Augustine today?”

“Did that little tattle tale really come to you?” asked Mei-Li.

“Dr. Lim-Melendez, you won’t talk to me like that here at work. I might be your mother, but here, I am your boss, and I won’t hesitate to dismiss you for unprofessional conduct,” warned Lim.

“Yes ma’am,” said Mei-Li sheepishly.

“Anyways, your father is working the late shift tonight, so I was wondering if you wanted to grab dinner somewhere?”

Mei-Li thought about it and said, “How about ASJ Restaurant? I could use some beef noodle soup.”

“I’ll meet you there,” said Lim.

Mei-Li went to the locker room and changed into her casual clothes. She drove over to the restaurant and parked her Corolla next to Lim’s Ducati. Mei-Li found her mother sitting at their usual table and she sat down across from Lim, “Here, I ordered you water,” said Lim.

“Thanks,” said Mei-Li.

“I also ordered steamed dumplings and two bowls of beef noodle soup,” said Lim.

“Thanks Mom,” said Mei-Li.

“Remember when I took you here for your first dim sum?” asked Lim, chuckling at the memory.

“Yes, I think a made a face at everything on the menu. You had to go through McDonald’s drive through and get me a Happy Meal on the way home,” Mei-Li smiled.

Their food arrived and they divided the dumplings between the two of them before they began to eat, “Now that we’re in private, we need to talk about what happened between you and Dr. Augustine.”

Mei-Li sighed in embarrassment, but she knew she deserved Lim’s thorough scolding, “I know Dad warned me not to let the case get personal but I couldn’t help it. I just lashed out at her when I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry,” she apologized.

“Thank you, but you don’t need to apologize to me; you need to apologize to Dr. Augustine,” clarified Lim. 

“What?”

“Mei-Li,” Lim gave her the mom look.

“Fine,” Mei-Li admitted in defeat.

“I know it’s hard. You and your brother have both been through a lot growing up. I appreciate you willing to defend me, even if Dr. Augustine doesn’t know it’s me, but you can’t back talk to your fellow residents. No matter how much they deserve it,” said Lim casually, taking a bite of soup.

“What? Really? You agree with me?” Mei-Li laughed.

“Oh goodness, yes,” chuckled Lim, “She reminds me of Dr. Reznick when she first started her residency and your father when we first began ours. I wanted to strangle him most of the time.”

“Well, you and Dad are competitive with each other,” said Mei-Li.

“We are not,” Lim lied.

“Mom, the last time we all went bowling, you claimed that Dad kept deliberately talking to you every time you were up so you would throw gutter balls,” Mei-Li reminded her.

“You know what? All of this talk of competition has given me an idea for next week,” said Lim.

“Okay,” Mei-Li said slowly. Lim paid for their food and they both drove home. When they walked into the living room, Mei-Li said, “Thanks for the talk, Mom. I really needed it.”

“You’re welcome sweetheart,” Lim hugged her tightly, “Now, I have some forms to finish and I have a meeting with a few donors tomorrow, not to mention a charity event next week, so I’m probably going to go to bed early.”

“Okay Mom, I love you,” said Mei-Li.

“I love you too,” said Lim.

Before Lim could reach the first step, Mei-Li stopped her, “Mom?” Lim turned to face her daughter, “Don’t be mad at me, but when I was ranting to Megan about the case, I might have described the first time you had a flashback in front of me without specifically saying it was you.”

“That’s okay. I told her why you were so upset with her,” said Lim.

Mei-Li’s eyes widened, “W-What?”

“Your behavior was inappropriate, and you still have to apologize for what you did, but you’re still my baby girl. I’m always going to defend you.”


	5. Chapter 5

It took another week for Mei-Li and Megan to run into each other because they were on different schedules. When Mei-Li saw Megan, she sighed to herself before approaching her fellow resident, “Dr. Augustine,” she called. 

Megan turned to face Mei-Li, “What do you want criticize me for this time?” 

“Actually, I wanted to apologize to you about how I acted last week,” Megan raised her eyebrows in surprise, “You’re right. I was letting my personal feelings on the subject matter cloud my judgment and that’s why Dr. Melendez took me off of the case.” 

Megan nodded, “Apology accepted. But it doesn’t matter anyways. There wasn’t enough evidence of DV, at least, not that we could find.” 

A text came through for both Mei-Li and Megan from Morgan instructing them to meet in the ER, so they began walking together towards the department, “I heard you were told about…” Mei-Li trailed off mid-sentence. 

“Yeah,” said Megan, “Dr. Lim-Melendez told me about having PTSD. You wouldn’t know by looking at her,” Megan paused, “That must have been really hard for you growing up.” 

Mei-Li didn’t say anything more as the two residents approached a group that included Eric, another resident she didn’t recognize, Shaun, Claire, Morgan, Park, and Melendez. Soon, Lim approached everyone, dressed in scrubs, indicating that she would be joining them for cases today. Most everyone stood straighter upon see the hospital president, “Good morning everyone,” she greeted. 

“Good morning,” everyone responded. 

“Alright, today we’re going to be doing something a little different. Dr. Augustine, Dr. Lim-Melendez, Dr. Harrison, I’d like to introduce everyone to Dr. Caroline Cho. She just recently transferred her residency here from Stanford University Medical Center, and she’s joining our team.” 

“Nice to meet you,” said Mei-Li and Caroline nodded in appreciation. 

“Well, given the fact that we now have an even group of residents eager to learn about teamwork and cooperation while simultaneously competing…” Lim began. 

“Not interested,” said Melendez and Park and Morgan smiled and Shaun and Claire glanced at each other, chuckling a little. 

“Competition can foster teamwork and help improve patient care. It can also help residents learn about their strengths and weaknesses,” explained Lim. 

“Audrey,” Melendez tried to interrupt. 

“Two of you will work with me, Dr. Murphy, and Dr. Browne-Murphy, while the other two work with Dr. Melendez, Dr. Reznick, and Dr. Park…” 

“Again, not interested,” said Melendez firmly. 

“Winning team in regards to patient satisfaction survey scores will get first dibs on assisting surgeries all next week,” said Lim, holding a clipboard out for Melendez. He gave her an annoyed look, but snatched the clipboard anyways, “I pick Dr. Augustine.” 

Megan arrogantly strutted over to Lim and gave a smug smile to her fellow residents for being chosen first. Lim glanced over at Melendez. He sighed, and said, “Dr. Harrison.” 

Eric walked over to Melendez, “Dr. Lim-Melendez,” said Lim. 

Mei-Li walked towards her team, while Melendez called Caroline over to his. The residents took their clipboards and reported to their respective triage rooms. 

“Same stakes?” asked Melendez, looking at Lim. 

“Actually, I think we should up the stakes. Loser pays at date night for the next three months and the winner gets to choose the restaurants. I look forward to being wined and dined.” 

“Now that’s funny, because the last three times you’ve forced me to do this bet, I’ve won,” Melendez teased, pointing to himself for emphasis. 

“You’ve been lucky,” said Lim. 

“Maybe the first time; but perhaps I’m just a better surgeon than you,” he said. 

“She is your wife, Dr. Melendez,” said Claire. 

“Oh don’t worry. She enjoys it when I do trash talk with her,” he winked at Lim and then walked away with Park and Morgan. 

As Lim, Shaun, and Claire walked towards their triage room, Shaun leaned closer to Claire and asked, “How come we don’t compete like that?” 

Claire chuckled, “Because we show our love for each other through different ways than saying mean things to each other.”

Having overheard the conversation, Megan turned to Mei-Li and asked, “Are your parents always like that?” 

“Oh yes. They compete with each other all the time: who can finish their jog faster, who can get a higher score on the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland, who can binge a season of a certain show the fastest, even who can brush their teeth the fastest.” 

“Okay,” said Megan. 

The other three surgeons arrived and Lim asked, “Dr. Augustine, please present?” 

“Patient is a 56 year old male, Oliver Stevens, complaining of chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, loss of appetite, unexplained weight loss, and a wet cough that won’t go away,” Megan listed. 

Claire went over to Oliver’s bedside and said, “Hi Mr. Stevens, I’m Dr. Browne-Murphy, and this is Dr. Shaun Murphy, Dr. Audrey Lim-Melendez, Dr. Megan Augustine, and Dr. Mei-Li Lim-Melendez. How long have your symptoms lasted?” 

“About a month,” answered Oliver. He coughed some before he said, “But the chest pain only started last week.” 

“Do you have any underlying lung conditions?” asked Shaun. 

“No,” answered Oliver. 

“Have you ever smoked?” asked Mei-Li. 

“Never,” responded Oliver. 

“So, Dr. Lim-Melendez, how do you suggest we proceed?” asked Claire. 

“Well, we should do a chest x-ray and a CT scan and go from there,” said Mei-Li. 

Lim nodded, “Well, I do have some paperwork to complete. I need you all to perform the tests and call me when you get the results,” Lim began to walk away but stopped suddenly when Oliver coughed again. 

“Dr. Lim-Melendez, are you okay?” asked Claire. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” answered Lim, “Call me with those test results.” 

***************************************************************************************************************************************** 

The doctors took Oliver to radiology to perform a chest x-ray as well as a CT scan. While Oliver was in the CT scanner, Claire said, “Now we need you to hold your breath for as long as you can, Mr. Stevens.” 

While they were waiting for the results, Megan said to Mei-Li, “So that must have sucked for you growing up.” 

“What do you mean?” asked Mei-Li. 

“Not knowing when your mother was going to lose it or not,” said Megan. 

“Dr. Augustine,” said Claire, before things could escalate. 

The results came up and Mei-Li said, “It looks like he has a mass in his right lung.” 

“Could be a carcinoma. We’ll have to get a biopsy to be certain, but given his symptoms, it doesn’t look promising,” said Claire, “Get him admitted for further testing tomorrow.” 

********************************************************************************************************************************************* 

Since it was the end of their shifts, everyone changed out of their scrubs and would reconvene in the morning to discuss Oliver’s results with him. Megan left the locker room, leaving Claire and Mei-Li behind, “Something tells me Dr. Lim-Melendez put you both on the same team since you don’t get along well?” 

“Guessing,” answered Mei-Li, “I thought she’d get better once Mom told her about…you know…but apparently not.” 

“Sadly, it can take people a while to accept differences,” Claire sat down on the bench and Mei-Li sat down next to her, “When Shaun first started at St. Bonaventure, there were several doctors here that didn’t think he belonged here solely because he’s autistic; your father was one of them.” 

“Yeah, he’s not proud of it now, but I know he made Shaun do suction and scut work,” said Mei-Li. 

Claire nodded, “Believe me, I stood up to Dr. Melendez a lot. If it hadn’t been the fact that I was his favorite resident, he probably would have punished me too.” 

“Favorite resident huh?” Mei-Li raised an eyebrow. 

“Anyways,” said Claire, ignoring Mei-Li’s question, “You and Megan remind me of Dr. Reznick and I when we first started working together. God, was Morgan a competitive…you know the word. But overtime, we became close friends.”

“So based on how you and Morgan hated each other and became close friends, and Mom and Dad hated each other and became more than close friends, you’re saying I’m going to become Megan’s closest friend?” Mei-Li asked jokingly. 

“No, not necessarily,” Claire smiled and laughed, “But nothing honestly surprises me anymore.” 

Mei-Li finished packing her things and was about to leave when Eric approached her, “Hey Mei-Li?” 

“What?” she asked. 

“Caroline and I are going out for drinks tonight. Did you want to join us?” asked Eric. 

“Sure, but even though it’s right down the street, you might want to avoid Crowley’s,” informed Mei-Li. 

“Why?” asked Eric. 

“Because that’s where Mom and Dad usually go for after work drinks,” answered Mei-Li, “Do you really want to run into the hospital president and Chief of Surgery while you’re trying to forget about work?” 

“No,” Eric answered honestly, “There’s another bar about a mile from here. It’s right near the closest Taco Bell.” 

“I’ll meet you there,” said Mei-Li. 

******************************************************************************************************************************************* 

When Mei-Li arrived at the bar, Eric hadn’t arrived, but Caroline had. Mei-Li sat down across from her in the booth and smiled, “Hi, it’s Caroline, right?” 

“Yeah,” she answered, “And you?” 

“Mei-Li,” she introduced herself. 

“So I’m guessing since you were referred to as Dr. Lim-Melendez earlier, that means Dr. Lim-Melendez and Dr. Melendez are your parents?” 

Mei-Li sighed and answered, “Yes, I promise I was accepted on my own merits.” 

“It’s okay, I come from a family of surgeons too,” said Caroline, “Just that they all work at Massachusetts General and I wanted to be as far away from Boston as possible. That’s why I moved here.” 

“Well, it’s nice to have another woman in the group, especially a woman of color. Megan is just…” Mei-Li shuttered. 

“She seems like she’s ‘that’ one,” Caroline used air quotes for emphasis. 

“She is,” affirmed Mei-Li. 

Eric arrived and ordered a beer, Caroline ordered a margarita, and Mei-Li requested a glass of whiskey—she had the same poison as her parents. Their drinks arrived and Eric said, “Didn’t take you for a whiskey drinker.” 

Mei-Li chuckled and said, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure whiskey is the reason I exist and it was involved the night I was conceived. Guess it’s in my DNA.” 

They nursed their drinks and Mei-Li asked Caroline, “So, you said your family is from Boston?” 

“Yep, home of the Red Sox, clam chowder, and the most touristy bar in America,” replied Caroline. 

“And you said you came from Stanford University Medical Center. You a Stanford grad?” asked Eric. 

“No, actually, I’m a Berkeley grad,” said Caroline. 

“Wait a minute? And I was just starting to like you,” Mei-Li mocked jokingly. 

“I take it you’re a Cardinal?” asked Caroline. 

“Second generation, me and Mom,” said Mei-Li proudly. 

“The president is a Stanford alumna? Oh boy, I’m in trouble,” Caroline laughed. 

“Hey, if she can tolerate my brother being a Golden Bear, she can tolerate you,” said Mei-Li. 

“Hey, try going to USC and not caring about football. People always looked at me like I had three heads. I couldn’t even tell you who won the last Notre Dame vs. USC game,” said Eric. 

They ordered another round of drinks before they paid and left for the evening. Mei-Li bid her farewells to Caroline and Eric before she drove home. When she arrived, both Melendez and Lim were at the dining room table, clad in their pajamas, and working on forms. Melendez looked up and smiled, “Hi mija.” 

“Hi Dad,” she kissed his cheek, “Working on paperwork again?” 

“Yes, we both worked hard to achieve our lifelong dreams of completing monotonous paperwork, schmoozing with donors, and handling departmental complaints,” said Lim sarcastically. 

“I’m glad I’m not a hospital administrator,” admitted Mei-Li. 

Lim looked up at her daughter and asked, “Did you have dinner?” 

“No, just a few drinks with Caroline and Eric,” said Mei-Li, “I might find some yogurt or something and then go to bed.” 

“We won’t be far behind you. Whether it’s in our bed or here at the dining room table is yet to be determined,” said Melendez. 

Mei-Li smiled and said, “Te amo. Buenas noches. And buena suerte with the paperwork.” 

“We’ll need it,” Lim called after her. 


	6. Chapter 6

Mei-Li, Megan, and Claire admitted Oliver the next day so they could get a biopsy of the mass in his lung to test for cancer. Unfortunately, when the results came in, they showed that Oliver had stage three lung cancer and it was too entangled in the blood vessels to remove safely it at the moment. The most they could do was refer him to an oncologist for further treatment to see if the tumor shrank enough for them to remove it, “The results show stage three lung cancer,” Claire told Oliver, “Unfortunately, it’s too large to remove safely and there’s a high chance if we tried to operate now, you would bleed out and die on the table.”

Oliver absorbed the news and asked, “How did this happen? I don’t smoke, I’ve never worked anywhere that had asbestos, no smokers in my immediate family.”

“Sometimes, it’s just bad genetics,” said Megan bluntly.

“Megan,” Mei-Li scolded, “He was just told he has cancer. Be a little more sensitive.”

“Dr. Lim-Melendez, Dr. Augustine,” Claire warned, “There is a possibility that, if you undergo chemotherapy and it shrinks the tumor, then we could discuss possible removal at a later time. But for now, we feel it’s best to refer you to Dr. Mariana Blaize, one of the top oncologists here at St. Bonaventure. With your permission, I can make sure she visits you for a consultation before you’re released.”

Oliver sighed and said, “Do I have any other options?”

Mei-Li and Megan looked at each other and Mei-Li said, “There is the option of doing nothing and just letting nature run its course. Also, the use of a surgical robot to remove the tumor…”

“I want to do that,” said Oliver.

“Well, we’d have to run the decision by our Chief of Surgery first,” said Claire, glaring at Mei-Li for even bringing up the surgical robot “It’s a very risky procedure, Mr. Stevens.”

“I’m willing to take it. I’d rather not go through chemo if I don’t have to,” he said.

“Well, we’ll talk to Dr. Melendez,” said Megan.

********************************************************************************************************************************************* 

In Melendez’s office, Melendez looked over Oliver’s CT scans and asked, “So which one of you presented Mr. Stevens with the option of the surgical robot without running it by me first?”

“Mei-Li did,” said Megan pointing at her.

“Rat me out, why don’t you?” quipped Mei-Li.

“Is this true, Dr. Lim-Melendez?” asked Melendez, looking at Mei-Li.

“You and Mom…Dr. Lim-Melendez have done it before,” argued Mei-Li.

“Once, and it was a very risky surgery which I do not normally recommend. I believe shrinking the tumor with chemo first would have been the safer option, but thanks to Dr. Lim-Melendez, we have to respect Mr. Steven’s choice, no matter the risk or outcome.”

Melendez left his office, leaving the three surgeons standing there, “I guess you don’t get special privileges as the Chief’s kid,” said Megan.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************** 

“It’s a viable option, Neil, and Mei-Li was right to present it,” said Lim.

“Audrey, you remember how difficult it was the last time we did this surgery? We almost lost our patient,” Melendez reminded her.

“And we learned. I believe if we team up again, we can do it,” said Lim.

“And what about Mei-Li?” asked Melendez.

“Well, we raised her to think for herself and stand up for what she believes in; now it’s coming back to bite us in the ass,” said Lim, “But schedule Mr. Stevens’s surgery for 7 AM tomorrow morning: you, me, Mei-Li, and Augustine.”

“Will do,” Melendez quipped a little bitterly, but went to change the schedule anyways.

************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

As Mei-Li was getting ready to leave after her shift, she ran into Caroline at the nurses’ station near the locker room. Mei-Li smoothed out her hair some before approaching her, “Hi Caroline,” she said.

Caroline looked over at Me-Li, smiled, and asked, “So how’s working with Augustine?”

“Oh, same old, same old,” said Mei-Li, “And now, I’m assisting on a risky surgery tomorrow morning thanks to my big mouth.”

“I’m sure it’s not that bad,” Caroline placated, leaning in closer to her.

“I’m assisting on a surgery with both of my parents and Megan; three people who expect a lot from me. No pressure,” said Mei-Li.

“I’m sure you’ll do great,” said Caroline, smiling at her once again.

“And if I don’t?” asked Mei-Li, turning to face her.

“Then you learn,” emphasized Caroline, “I have to get going. Park wanted me to drop off these test results to him before I left for the day. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Mei-Li said softly and gave Caroline a final nervous smile before Caroline walked towards the elevators. It was only then did Mei-Li realize her mother had seen the entire conversation.

************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Mei-Li arrived home, sincerely hoping her mother wasn’t still up and ready to discuss her earlier observation, but as luck would have it, Lim was sitting on the living room sofa with two glasses of bourbon already poured, “I don’t want to talk about it Mom,” Mei-Li said.

“God, you’re just like me when it comes to talking about your love life,” Lim smiled and sipped her drink.

“That’s because my last three relationships ended in disaster. Danielle was the typical high school romance where we drifted apart after graduation, Liam turned out to be a huge jackass, and Jenny and I had been together since sophomore year of college and through med school. Then, one night I think she’s going to propose to me only to tell me she’s moving to Miami for her residency. Lucky duck,” said Mei-Li, “And may I remind you that I swore I was never going to get involved in a romantic relationship again?”

“That’s what I said after I got divorced and look how that turned out,” said Lim, tossing Mei-Li a bag of peanut M&M’s, her favorite candy.

“That’s different,” protested Mei-Li.

“Why?” asked Lim.

“You and Dad were friends for years before you started dating. Caroline and I barely know each other,” said Mei-Li.

“Doesn’t mean you both can’t form a solid friendship first like your Dad and I did. If it’s meant to be, it’ll work out,” said Lim.

Mei-Li guzzled her whiskey and asked, “Since when did you become an expert on romance?”

“I didn’t. I just know what I saw,” said Lim.

“I’m going to bed. We have a complex surgery tomorrow morning,” Mei-Li excused herself.

“Nice talking with you,” Lim said jokingly.

Lim finished her bourbon and went upstairs to change for bed. An hour later Melendez arrived home and joined her upstairs. He kissed her temple and said, “Sorry I’m later than expected. I was in a surgery that turned out to be more complicated than originally planned.”

“That’s fine. It gave me the opportunity to talk with Mei-Li anyways,” said Lim.

“About bringing up a risky surgery without clearing it with me first?” asked Melendez.

“Shit, I forgot to mention that,” said Lim, “No, about who seems to be her latest crush.”

“Crush? Oh my God. What’s his name? I’m gonna kill him,” said Melendez.

“It’s Caroline Cho,” said Lim.

“Wait, Caroline Cho? I’m gonna kill her…”

“Neil,” Lim interrupted and rolled over to face him, “It hasn’t gone anywhere yet.”

“Audrey, may I remind you the heartbreak our daughter went through with her last relationship?” he mentioned.

“And she was devastated, but she got through it. We’ve been through breakups too, and eventually, we both moved on. And Mei-Li needs to as well. So please don’t go into protective Daddy mode and make Cho do scut work,” Lim wrapped her arm around him and snuggled closer to him.

“Fine,” said Melendez, “But I’m still going to keep an eye on Mei-Li and Caroline.”


	7. Chapter 7

Melendez and Lim along with Mei-Li and Megan were in the OR bright and early. They had Oliver sign the consent forms after going over the risks for the surgery and put him to sleep before Lim set up the surgical robot. Melendez set up the tools for cauterizing the blood vessels and told Megan to assist him with the procedure, while Mei-Li aided Lim with the robot, “Starting the surgery at 7:42 AM,” announced Lim as she began to manipulate the surgical robot. It took her a while to find to the tumor, “Found it. Melendez, Augustine, be ready to cauterize the blood vessels. Lim-Melendez, help me make sure I’m not too close to any blood vessels or arteries.”

As the surgeons cut deeper and deeper, they realized that the tumor was embedded more than they had anticipated, “Dammit, this tumor is more entangled in the lung than the scans revealed,” said Melendez, “We’re having trouble keeping up with the bleeding.”

“I can’t slow down because the robot his keeping some of the bleeding under control. If I remove any clamps he’ll bleed out,” said Lim in frustration.

“Dr. Lim-Melendez, it won’t be of any use if we can’t cauterize the blood vessels and arteries,” said Megan.

“Shit, we have a bleed we can’t control,” said Lim.

Alarms sounded and Mei-Li said, “His stats are crashing.”

“Pump two units of O- and an amp of epi,” ordered Melendez, “Augustine, start compressions. Mei-Li, set up the defibrillator.”

Everyone did as instructed and Megan did a round of compressions, “Charge to 200. Everyone off. CLEAR!” Lim pressed the button, but Oliver still remained flat line, “Another amp of epi. Charge to 250. CLEAR!”

As Mei-Li helped Lim with the defibrillator and Megan performed chest compressions, Mei-Li thought, _“Shit, this is my fault. I’m the one who was stupid enough to bring up this surgery, and if I hadn’t, this would be happening.”_

“Charge to 300. Everybody off. CLEAR,” Lim called. Another shock with no response.

Lim and Melendez looked at each other as Mei-Li began compressions again, “We should do cardiac massage and another shock…”

“Dr. Lim-Melendez,” said Lim softly.

“And after that, we can open his chest and stop the bleeding…”

“Mija,” Melendez uttered softly to get her attention. Mei-Li stopped compressions and Melendez announced, “Time of death, 8:57 AM.”

************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

The rest of the day was a blur for Mei-Li, and she couldn’t help but blame herself for Oliver’s death. She followed Claire and Shaun around with a new patient, but she had no idea what was going on with her. Okay, that was stretching the truth just a tad; it was a woman in her mid-thirties who was being assessed for a double lung transplant as a result of permanent damage due to Cystic Fibrosis. But she couldn’t help but think back to that morning, where the surgery that _she_ had brought up failed to save Oliver Stevens’s life. At lunchtime, she went to the cafeteria and ordered a turkey club sandwich and a Coke before taking a seat by the window. She noticed her parents were on the other side of the cafeteria and Shaun, Claire, and Morgan were a few tables over from her. Mei-Li took a few bites of her sandwich before she noticed someone standing near the table. She glanced up and found Caroline standing in front of her with a tray of food in her hands, “May I sit here?”

“Of course,” Mei-Li gestured to the seat across from her.

“Rough morning?” asked Caroline as she sat down and took a bite of her cold cut sub.

“Kind of,” said Mei-Li, “I lost my first patient this morning.”

“I’m sorry,” said Caroline, “Mom and Dad have told me that the first patient is always the hardest.”

“Yeah, that’s what my parents say too. It’s just that…” Mei-Li trailed off, “He’s dead because of me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” said Caroline.

“I’m the one who suggested the surgery that caused him to die. How is it not my fault?” asked Mei-Li.

“Because your heart was in the right place; you were doing what you thought was best for your patient,” said Caroline.

“With all due respect, Caroline, you’ve known me for three days,” said Mei-Li.

“I know. But there’s something…different about you compared to Megan and Eric, and I don’t mean the fact that your parents are the president and Chief of Surgery here,” clarified Caroline, “Tell you what? How about after work today, we go grab a drink together? I think you could use one.”

“You, me, and Eric like last time?” asked Mei-Li for clarification.

“No, just you and me,” confirmed Caroline.

Mei-Li had to suppress a smile as her heart skipped a beat, “What time do you get off today?”

“Six. You?”

“Same.”

“We can meet at the same bar we did the last time. Is that cool?” asked Caroline.

“That’s fine,” answered Mei-Li.

“Well then it’s settled. Now can I complain about how demanding Dr. Reznick is as a supervising surgeon?”

************************************************************************************************************************************************ 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the cafeteria, Melendez was keeping a close eye on Mei-Li and Caroline as he had vowed to himself. His wife’s voice interrupted his observations, “You want to go over there and break them apart so badly, don’t you?”

“No I don’t,” Melendez turned to focus on his wife.

“That’s okay. You’ve always been a protective Daddy,” Lim teased.

“She lost her first patient today, Audrey,” said Melendez.

Lim sighed, “I know. And it’s one she’ll never forget. I mean, I know I remember the first patient I lost and I’m sure you do too,” Melendez nodded in agreement, “But we can’t butt into her life every time something goes wrong. She’s an adult and is training to be a surgeon and we have to treat her like we do all of the other residents.”

“I know,” Melendez sighed, “I just miss the days where I rocked her in my arms and sang her a lullaby and all of her problems were solved.”

“I know. Me too,” said Lim.

“And it’s not that I’m upset about her possibly dating again, it’s just…with Danielle, the break-up was mutual. With Liam, she’s the one who dumped him. But with Jenny…she was so heartbroken; she looked like someone out of a Taylor Swift music video. It was one thing watching you and Kashal get a divorce or when Jessica dumped me; but when it was Mei-Li’s first real heartbreak…I don’t want to see her go through that again.”

It had pained Lim to see her daughter come home sobbing after getting dumped by her longtime girlfriend and it had made Lim want to do everything in her power to make her feel better. Several pints of Ben & Jerry’s, a bottle of reserved scotch, and a _Harry Potter_ movie marathon later, Mei-Li had finally felt better. Lim grabbed Melendez’s hand and said, “It’s what makes you a good father,” she smiled sadly, “So, um about the bet…?”

“No,” said Melendez, “It doesn’t count if one of us loses a patient,” he also smiled sadly, “I have to go,” he kissed her lightly, “Love you.”

“Love you too,” said Lim.

Melendez went back to looking at Mei-Li and Caroline, “Seriously, keep an eye on those two.”

Lim chuckled as her husband walked away, knowing he was only joking. Mostly.

************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

After her shift, Mei-Li met up with Caroline at the bar, and she ordered a whiskey while she waited for her fellow resident. Caroline arrived and ordered a bourbon as well and Mei-Li got hers topped off, as she had already downed the first glass. Finally, Caroline asked, “Are you feeling any better?”

Mei-Li sighed, “Some, but not great. Like you said, you’ll always remember your first death,” Mei-Li took a swig of her drink and asked, “So what made you want to transfer your residency from Stanford? And why California? There are lots of good hospitals in Massachusetts.”

Caroline sighed, “I wanted a change of pace from the east coast. And in regards to transferring from Stanford, I had some trouble with one of my attending surgeons. Guy was an asshole and the president of the hospital wouldn’t do anything about it, so I left for my own mental health. How about you? Did you look into any other places besides St. Bonaventure?”

Mei-Li nodded, “I looked into the Cleveland Clinic, Mass Gen, Hopkins, UCSF, and Duke, but then I decided I didn’t want to leave San Jose. My whole life is here.”

Caroline nodded in understanding, “It is difficult to uproot your life across the country. I have not been able to find a decent lobster roll since I left Boston,” said Caroline in frustration and Mei-Li chuckled, “So, do you have any idea what type of surgery you want to pursue?”

“Not trauma surgery and not cardiothoracic surgery,” Mei-Li stated adamantly, “Every other specialty is fair game. You?”

“Pediatric surgery,” Caroline answered.

Mei-Li nodded and the two conversed about nonsense stuff, like sports and pop culture, before they finished their whiskey, “Another?” Mei-Li asked Caroline.

“No, if I have more than two of anything, I can’t drive home,” Caroline paid for her drinks and stood to leave, “This was really nice. I’d like to do it again sometime.”

“Me too,” smiled Mei-Li.

Caroline winked at her and said, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Hopefully.” Caroline left the bar.

************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

When Mei-Li arrived home, Melendez and Lim were in the living room, watching TV. They both glanced over at their daughter and Lim asked, “Where were you this lovely evening?”

“I went out for drinks,” said Mei-Li.

“With the other residents?” asked Melendez in curiosity.

“No, just Caroline,” answered Mei-Li and Melendez’s eyes widened at his daughter’s response, “And then I swung through Burger King’s drive through and got chicken fries. Well, it’s been a long day; I’m going to go upstairs and unwind. Good night Mom, Dad,” she kissed their cheeks and went upstairs.

Lim saw the look on her husband’s face, so she took his hand in hers and teasingly said, “Breathe Dad.”

“How are you so calm?” asked Melendez.

“Because, we raised our daughter to make good decisions, and now we have to trust her,” said Lim. She snuggled closer to her husband, “But it’s your job to worry about her love life since you’re her father,” she said jokingly.

“I really do miss the days where she was small enough to fit into my arms,” Melendez admitted.


	8. Chapter 8

A week before Halloween, Mei-Li, Eric, and Caroline were eating lunch in the cafeteria before having to report back to Morgan or Claire for surgeries. Eric said, “Oh, I just wanted to let you both know that my girlfriend and I are having a Halloween party next Wednesday night and you both are invited.”

Caroline took a sip of her soda and said, “I appreciate the invitation, Eric, but I have to work that night.”

“And I already have a Día de los Muertos party on Friday, and I can only do so much partying in one week,” said Mei-Li.

“Are you sure you can’t come? You’ll miss out on me and Kate rocking our Fred and Wilma Flintstone costumes,” Eric teased.

“I also have to work the night shift the day before Halloween, so I’ll need all of the sleep I can get and shouldn’t be staying up two nights in a row,” said Mei-Li.

“Suit yourself,” said Eric.

After they finished their lunches, Eric dismissed himself to go find Claire while Caroline smiled and said, “So, a Día de los Muertos party huh?”

“Yeah, it’s one of the biggest holidays in Mexican culture and my family has a big party every year. We rotate houses, so sometimes it’s at my house, sometimes my grandparents’ house, sometimes we go to Texas, the year my bisabuelo passed away, we went to Mexico for the holiday,” explained Mei-Li.

“Sounds like fun,” said Caroline.

The women cleaned up their trash and reported to the OR to scrub in with Morgan. The surgery took the rest of Mei-Li’s shift, so after the operation was complete, Mei-Li went straight to the locker room to go home for the night. She was alone when she arrived back at her house; she figured her parents were either in surgery or completing paperwork before coming home for the night. Soon, Melendez arrived home, followed by Lim, and the three of them prepared dinner before they sat down to eat. Melendez and Lim discussed a few work related issues before Lim turned to face Mei-Li and asked, “So how has your week been going? We haven’t gotten to see you much.”

“It’s been fine,” answered Mei-Li. She put her fork down before she hesitantly asked, “Mom, Dad, I know we have everything mostly set for the party on Friday, and I know we don’t usually invite many people outside of our family and close friends, but I was wondering if I could invite one more person?”

Melendez smiled a little and asked, “Let me guess? You want to invite Dr. Cho?”

“I know it’s last minute, but I really want to get to know her outside of work and a bar,” pleaded Mei-Li.

“Alright, but prepare her for what it’ll be like ahead of time that way there are no surprises for her,” Melendez teased.

“Thanks,” Mei-Li smiled and went back to her dinner.

****************************************************************************************************************************************** 

At work the next day, Mei-Li was busy and didn’t see Caroline again until the end of her shift. She approached Caroline in the locker room and tapped her on the shoulder. Caroline startled, but turned around and smiled warmly once she realized whom it was, “Oh, hi Me-Li.”

“Hey, listen, I was wondering…you know my family’s Día de los Muertos party I was telling you about?”

“Yeah,” Caroline responded as she shoved her lab coat into her locker. 

“I was wondering if you wanted to come to the party?” asked Mei-Li hesitantly.

“What’s it involve?” asked Caroline.

“Food, dancing, relatives sticking their noses into everyone’s personal business…you know, usual family gatherings,” Mei-Li said amusingly, “But seriously, they’ll be lots of food and most of my relative will be there and it’s always a good time. So are you in?”

Caroline shrugged, “Sure, it sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun.”

“Cool,” said Mei-Li, “The party is Friday, November 2nd starting at 7 PM. I can either give you my address or I can pick you up on my way home from work since you mentioned you were off that day.”

“Giving me your address works,” said Caroline.

Mei-Li sent a quick text and said, “I’ll see you there,” she smiled and left the locker room.

*************************************************************************************************************************************** 

The day of the party, the Limlendez house was full of partygoers talking, laughing, eating, and having a good time. The living room was adorned with papel picado, marigolds, and ofrendas while the kitchen contained food and drinks. Mei-Li and her cousin, Isabella, were having a conversation when Caroline sent Mei-Li a text saying she had arrived. Mei-Li smiled nervously as she answered the door, “Caroline, so glad you could make it,” Mei-Li hugged her.

“I appreciate the invitation,” said Caroline, “I tried to apply some make-up like you sent me in those links, but I don’t know how well it turned out.”

“You look great,” said Mei-Li, “Uh, Caroline, this is my cousin, Isabella. Izzy, this is my friend, Caroline. She’s also a resident at St. Bonaventure.”

“Nice to meet you,” Caroline went to shake her hand, only to receive a kiss on her cheek.

“It’s a pleasure,” said Isabella.

“Well, there’s food and drinks in the kitchen, I’m sure there’s lots of dancing in the living room. I’ll introduce you to some of my other family members,” said Mei-Li, leading Caroline into the kitchen, “This is my Abuelita, Maria Melendez, and my Abuelito, Mateo Melendez, and you already know Dr. Melendez and Dr. Lim-Melendez. Abuelita, Abuelito, this is my friend, Caroline Cho. She’s a resident at St. Bonaventure with me.”

“Nice to meet you both and nice to see you both,” said Caroline.

“You too, Dr. Cho,” said Melendez.

“I’ll be in the dining room setting the table, Neil,” said Lim, laying a hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll help you and Elena,” said Maria.

“I better go find Gabi, Miguel, and the boys,” said Mateo.

Melendez left after pouring himself a drink and Caroline turned to Mei-Li, “Which way is the bathroom?”

“Down that hall, second door on your right,” said Mei-Li.

“Thanks,” said Caroline. 

When Mei-Li turned to face her cousin, Isabella had her arms crossed over her chest, “What?”

“Mei-Li, you came out as bisexual ten years ago. I don’t think you have to pretend she’s ‘just a friend’ anymore,” Isabella said, using air quotes.

“Izzy,” said Mei-Li, “Look, we really _are_ just friends right now as you put it. But I’d like that to change. I think Caroline likes me, but I want to be certain before I dump the whole, ‘Hey, I like you romantically’ speech onto her.”

“Got you,” said Isabella.

Mei-Li poured some pumpkin mezcal margarita for herself before she held it out for Isabella, “Drink?”

Isabella said, “No, thank you, I um,” she laid her hand on her abdomen, “We need to abstain from alcohol for now.”

“Oh my God, Izzy!” Mei-Li threw her arms around her, “Congratulations! How far along are you? Does the rest of the familia know?”

“Eleven weeks along. Only Mom and Dad know besides Jimmy,” answered Isabella.

“How did Tío Miguel and Tía Elena react?” asked Mei-Li.

“They’re over the moon. Mom’s exact words were ‘I finally get to be an Abuelita!’,” Isabella imitated Elena’s voice.

“Isabella, Mei-Li, dinner’s ready,” said Melendez.

The two women went to dining room and Mei-Li sat in between Isabella and Caroline. Elena said grace and then stated, “Before we have everyone talking over each other, my daughter and my son-in-law have an announcement to make.”

Isabella and Jimmy glanced at each other and Isabella said, “We’re expecting!”

Everyone clapped and cheered and asked the standard questions of ‘how far along are you?’ and ‘how bad is the morning sickness?’, Carlos asked, “So do you know what you’re going to name the little munchkin? I know you always like to have everything planned out ahead of time.”

“If it’s a boy, Rafael, and if it’s a girl, Carmen,” answered Jimmy.

“Rafael Ramirez or Carmen Ramirez both have a nice ring to it,” said Isabella.

“So how have you been feeling?” asked Lim.

Isabella groaned a little, “The morning sickness has been pretty bad. All I can keep down are saltines and McDonald’s french fries.”

“After I got past the morning sickness, I craved everything when I was pregnant with Mei-Li. It was awful,” Lim chuckled.

“No, what was awful was trying to find Thai Pepper Chicken Doritos at one in the morning, only to find out that they’re only sold in Taiwan,” said Melendez in amusement, “Thank God for the internet.”

Caroline snickered a little at the story, trying to picture her bosses arguing over a flavor of tortilla chips. The family ate and continued to party late into the night since it was Friday. Around midnight, Caroline decided it was time to leave for home. Mei-Li escorted her outside as Caroline said, “I had a really great time tonight. Thank you for inviting me.”

“You’re welcome,” said Mei-Li, “It was nice to get to know you more outside of work and a few happy hours.”

The women paused and Mei-Li wasn’t quite sure of Caroline’s intentions, but soon, she pulled out her car keys and said, “I guess I’ll see you at work on Monday?”

“Maybe. I work the 3-11 shift all next week,” said Mei-Li.

“Oh, I work from 7-3. Maybe we’ll see each other in passing?” asked Caroline.

“Hopefully,” said Mei-Li.

“Well, have a good night,” Caroline got into the driver’s seat and drove down the street.

“Good night, Caroline,” Mei-Li whispered to herself.


	9. Chapter 9

It had been a long week for Mei-Li with working the later shift. Thankfully, by the following week, she was working daylight again. Thursday afternoon, when Morgan and Mei-Li were in surgery together, Morgan said, “So, Dr. Lim-Melendez, tomorrow after work, Claire and I are going bowling together along with Steve and Lydia. I was wondering if you wanted to join us as it would be just like old times.”

“Um, Mom and Dad both have some sort of charity event to attend tomorrow night, so I’m on my own. I don’t see why not? But who would even out the teams since Carlos is at school right now?”

“There is one person I’m sure you’d like me to ask,” mentioned Morgan casually.

“Who?” asked Mei-Li.

“Come on, Dr. Lim-Melendez,” said Morgan, “Cho doesn’t immediately pop into your mind?”

“No,” Mei-Li lied, “What are you getting at, Dr. Reznick?”

“Mei-Li, I watched your parents dance around each other, and then I watched Shaun and Claire dance around each other. You’ve liked Cho since you laid eyes on her.”

“Dr. Reznick…” said Mei-Li.

“You know I just call it like I see it,” said Morgan, “So do you want me to invite her or not?”

Mei-Li huffed answered, “Fine, but only because I was thinking about inviting her to the Berkley-Stanford game and changed my mind because I couldn’t stand the thought of sitting next to someone rooting against Stanford. It’s bad enough my brother plays for Berkeley.”

“Alright, I’ll invite her then,” said Morgan.

***************************************************************************************************************************************** 

After her shift on Friday, Mei-Li went home to freshen up and change as she wasn’t supposed to meet everyone at the bowling alley until 5:00. She arrived and Morgan’s and Claire’s cars were in the parking lot, so Mei-Li parked near them before entering the building. She rented her shoes and went over to the lanes where Morgan, Claire, Steven, and Lydia were warming up their bowling arms, “Mei-Li!” Lydia hugged her excitedly.

“Lydia, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you,” said Mei-Li, “So how’s Steven?”

“You have a brother. You know what it’s like to have a teenage boy live with you,” said Lydia.

“That I do,” Mei-Li sympathized.

Caroline arrived and hesitantly approached the group, “Hi,” she smiled softly at Mei-Li.

“Hi,” Mei-Li smiled back.

“Steven, Lydia, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Caroline Cho. Dr. Cho, this is my son, Steven, and my daughter, Lydia,” said Claire.

“Nice to meet you,” said Steven.

“So I guess we’ll do our usual: Claire, Steven, and Lydia vs. Cho, Lim-Melendez, and me?” said Morgan.

“Everyone will have an easy time beating Dr. Browne-Murphy. She’s a terrible bowler,” said Mei-Li.

“Now you sound like your father,” said Claire.

“I must say, I’m not bad at bowling,” said Caroline.

Mei-Li snickered and said, “I’ll have you know that I’ve been bowling almost as long as I’ve been walking and dancing.”

“And you’re looking at the girl who was in a four time champion bowling league in college,” said Caroline.

“Like mother and father, like daughter,” said Morgan amusingly to Claire.

Claire rolled her eyes at Morgan and said, “Would you quit trying to play matchmaker so we can just bowl?”

“Who said I was trying to play matchmaker?” asked Morgan innocently.

“You purposefully did things to get me and Shaun together; hell, you even did little things here and there to get Dr. Melendez and Dr. Lim-Melendez to finally notice each other. Don’t think I don’t know that you said up this event for those two,” Claire gestured towards Mei-Li and Caroline.

“Well, when it works, I want to hear how I was right,” Morgan walked towards her team.

******************************************************************************************************************************** 

After three matches, to which both Lydia and Steven easily beat their mother and Caroline _did_ prove how good of a bowler she was, Caroline changed into her sneakers and said, “Well, I better get going. I’ll see you all at work on Monday. It was nice meeting you Steven, Lydia.”

“You too,” said Steven.

Mei-Li watched Caroline’s retreating form and glanced between Caroline and Morgan before chasing Caroline outside, “Caroline, wait!”

Caroline turned to face Mei-Li, “What?”

“Caroline, I’ve been hiding my feelings since I first laid eyes on you, but I need to get this off of my chest. I like you.”

“I like you too,” Caroline chuckled.

“No, I mean I _like_ like you,” said Mei-Li. Caroline looked a little shocked, but Mei-Li continued, “And I don’t care if you don’t like me back, or if you’re not into girls; we can just be friends, but…”

Caroline didn’t say anything, but walked straight towards Mei-Li. Mei-Li was wondering what Caroline was planning on doing, so needless to say, she was thoroughly surprised when Caroline took her face in hers and kissed her. Not that Mei-Li minded it. After a moment, the two women pulled apart and Caroline asked, “What took you so long to admit it?”

“I don’t know. It’s not exactly easy to walk up to someone and say, ‘Hey, I like you’,” said Mei-Li.

Caroline chuckled and laughed before she kissed Mei-Li again, “Well, I’m glad you finally worked up the nerve to say something. I was too shy to tell you.”

“Blame the fact that I was raised by an outspoken woman,” said Mei-Li.

Meanwhile, Morgan and Claire were both observing Mei-Li and Caroline finally admit their feelings for each other, so Morgan looked over at Claire and raised her eyebrows at her, “I’m not going to say it, Morgan,” Claire went back into the bowling alley to get Steven and Lydia.

“I told you so,” said Morgan.

************************************************************************************************************************************* 

When Mei-Li arrived home, the house was empty, so she changed into her pajamas and went back downstairs. She grabbed a pint of ice cream and pulled up Netflix through the Amazon Fire Stick, deciding to stream _arks and Recreation_ for the rest of the night. Melendez and Lim arrived home around ten that night, “Hi mija.”

Mei-Li jumped when she heard her father’s voice, but smiled and said, “Hi Dad.”

“How was your evening?” asked Lim.

Mei-Li smiled when she recalled her and Caroline’s kiss, but she said, “It was fine. I went bowling with Caroline, Morgan, Claire, Steven, and Lydia.”

“Claire still a horrific bowler?” asked Melendez jokingly.

“Oh yes,” Mei-Li laughed, “Caroline and Lydia actually did the best.”

“Well, it sounds like it was a fun evening,” Melendez laid his hand on Mei-Li’s shoulder and went upstairs.

Lim turned to face her daughter once Melendez was out of earshot, “So what else happened?”

“What do you mean what else happened?” asked Mei-Li, sipping some water.

“Honey, I’m your mother; I know these things. Something else good happened,” said Lim.

“You won’t let it go until I tell you, will you?” Lim shook her head, “Well, I told Caroline how I feel and she kissed me,” Lim smiled broadly, “And I’m terrified.”

Lim’s smile faded, “Why?”

“Because this is the first person I’ve like since Jenny…” Mei-Li trailed off.

“Mei-Li,” Lim hugged her, “Let me tell you something. You know how I was married to someone else before I married your father?” Mei-Li nodded, “Well, when Kashal and I divorced, I didn’t want to get involved with anyone ever again. That was until…”

“The night Dr. Andrews screwed you and Dad over for Chief of Surgery and you had a drunken one night stand,” said Mei-Li.

“Mei-Li Esmeralda!” Lim scolded jokingly.

“That’s what it was, Mom,” said Mei-Li.

“Anyways, you know I got sick then,” said Lim.

“Mom, I don’t expect you to talk about something you don’t like to discuss,” said Mei-Li.

“And I’m not going to,” said Lim, “But the point is, I finally took a chance on your father and look at us now. So maybe it’s time to take a chance again.”

“But I’m scared, Mom. I really like her,” Mei-Li admitted.

“And sometimes, the things that scare us the most turn out to be our greatest blessings in life,” said Lim.

“Now you sound like Abuelita,” commented Mei-Li.

“Who do you think gave me the same advice I’m giving you?” Lim stood and said, “Think about it, sweetheart.” Lim went upstairs for the night, leaving Mei-Li to ponder her ambiguous feelings.


	10. Chapter 10

Over the next few weeks, Mei-Li avoided Caroline. She was similar to her mother in regards to running away from any romantic feelings that slowly crept to the surface. She had hidden her feelings for Jenny in college until Everly had finally convinced her to take a chance on love, and look how well that relationship had turned out. So in the meantime, she threw herself into her work in the hopes that she would forget about her feelings for Caroline, though working in the same hospital presented an added challenge for Mei-Li.

One morning, Eric and Mei-Li were covering the ER with Morgan when a patient was brought in via ambulance, though both Eric and Mei-Li recognized the patient, “Patient is Suzanne Anderson, fell off the deck while helping her husband make repairs, complaining of chest pain, possible broken ribs, no suspicion of head trauma,” the EMT informed them.

Morgan had been informed by Melendez about the prior DV investigation, so she looked over at her residents, who both had questioning looks on their faces. She smiled at Suzanne and said, “His Mrs. Anderson, I’m Dr. Reznick, and this is Dr. Harrison and Dr. Lim-Melendez. Can you tell me what happened?”

“Daniel and I were making repairs to our balcony when I fell over the unstable railing,” she said, though all three physicians could tell she was lying.

Morgan accepted the lie anyways for now and said, “Well, you might have some broken ribs, so we’re going to send you up to radiology for a chest x-ray and also perform a CT scan to check on your previous TBI.”

They escorted Suzanne to radiology, and while she was having her chest x-ray taken, Morgan, Eric, and Mei-Li took the opportunity to talk, “It’s the second time in less than three months she’s been brought in for an accident,” said Eric.

“I know, I’ve read the paperwork and test results Dr. Melendez provided me,” said Morgan, “But we couldn’t do anything the last time as there wasn’t enough evidence of DV.”

Mei-Li knew she shouldn’t open her mouth yet again, but she said, “I have an idea. One that doesn’t involve calling the police.”

************************************************************************************************************************************************** 

“Absolutely not,” said Lim to Mei-Li.

“Why not?” asked Mei-Li incredulously.

“Mei-Li, it’s not our jobs as surgeons to discuss our personal lives every time we have a patient in a similar situation. We don’t go talking about our personal lives every time we have a patient who’s Latinx or Asian and you don’t introduce yourself as bisexual to every patient who’s a part of the LGBTQ community. This situation is no different,” said Melendez.

“But maybe, just maybe, Daniel Anderson would admit he needs help. He doesn’t need to get involved with the police; he needs therapy,” said Mei-Li adamantly, “He might be just scared to admit it with the stigma. Mom, you told me you didn’t want to admit you needed help.”

“It’s different, Mei-Li,” said Lim.

“Why?” asked Mei-Li.

“Dr. Lim-Melendez, your father is right. We really shouldn’t be stating our personal problems to our patients,” said Lim.

Mei-Li sighed in defeat and went to leave. She turned back and said, “You know, I’ve heard you both discuss standing up for your patients and helping them get the proper treatment they needed no matter what it took. And those two strong individuals raised me to be the same way.”

Mei-Li left Lim’s office and the couple sighed, “She’s right, you know?” said Melendez.

“I know she is,” said Lim, taking a seat on the sofa, “I shared stories with many of my patients so they would know they weren’t alone. Just that it’s hard to keep rewarding Mei-Li for this outspokenness.”

“I wonder where she gets it from?” Melendez asked rhetorically, sat down next to Lim, and took her hand, “Now I understand how frustrating we must’ve been as residents and attending surgeons.”

Lim chuckled and laid her head on Melendez’s shoulder, “Those were the days,” she said, “If someone would have told me on the first day of residency that thirty-eight years later, I’d be married to you, birthed two of your children, and we’d both be running St. Bonaventure together, I would’ve laughed in their face.”

“Can’t say I would have believed them either,” admitted Melendez. He took a deep breath and said, “I think you and I both know what we have to do with this particular patient.”

Lim nodded in agreement, “Yes, I do.”

*********************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Lim quietly knocked on the door before entering Suzanne’s hospital room. She smiled warmly at the couple and said, “Hi Mrs. Anderson, Mr. Anderson, I’m Dr. Audrey Lim-Melendez and I am president of the hospital. May I talk to you both about something?”

“Of course,” answered Suzanne, though she looked a little apprehensive.

Lim sat down at the desk chair and rolled it over to Suzanne’s bedside, “I notice you’ve been making a lot of visits to the hospital recently.”

“Yeah, well, Daniel and I have been doing remodels to our house and I’ve always been a clumsy one. And he leaves for another tour in three months so we’ve been trying to rush the repairs,” said Suzanne.

“So, you’re in the military?”

“U.S. Army, ma’am,” said Daniel.

“Well, thank you for your service to our country. I acknowledge how big of a sacrifice military life and combat life can be,” said Lim. And that’s when Lim noticed it; Daniel flinched when she mentioned combat, “I, um, I believe the last time you were treated, Dr. Mei-Li Lim-Melendez treated you?”

“Yes,” said Suzanne.

“Is she your daughter, ma’am?” asked Daniel.

“Yes, and she mentioned about you going through treatment for PTSD,” said Lim.

Finally, Suzanne started to cry, and Daniel said, “Honey, don’t cry.”

“Daniel, I don’t know how much longer I can keep up the lie. I don’t want them to call the police, but you hurt me. And Melanie too. All because you won’t stay in treatment.”

“Mrs. Anderson,” said Lim, “I know it’s difficult, but you have to understand where your husband is coming from. To face your innermost demons. To get worse before you get better. It’s a rough recovery,” Suzanne looked a little taken aback, but Daniel suddenly gained a sense of comfort, like someone understood his struggles personally, “A long time ago, I was working the ER and I contracted a respiratory virus similar to SARS or COVID_19,” Lim shared with ease now, “I almost didn’t make it, and I had to be isolated. There were times I had to be put in a medically induced coma because I would try to rip out my ventilator tube in my delirious state. There were times my fever would spike so high that they thought my organs would begin to shut down; they even considered putting me on dialysis at one point and I had to be put on ECMO to oxygenate my blood. It’s an experience I never wanted to discuss ever again. I had the same things you probably have: the flashbacks, the nightmares, the triggers, the irritability, and the numbness, like you constantly have your own horror movie playing inside your head. When my husband, or my boyfriend at the time, suggested I had PTSD, I didn’t want to believe him. I wanted to forget the nightmarish experience I went through, not talk to a stranger, or anyone else for that matter, about it. There were many times during my treatment that I wanted to quit too; I thought it wasn’t helping, that I would never get better, and what was the point of going through it all. But the main thing that helped me get through the treatment process was a supportive partner.”

Daniel and Suzanne looked at each other, like they were having a silent conversation, before Suzanne said, “But I don’t know how to be a supportive partner.”

“And the rage I feel…I don’t mean to hurt Suzanne and Melanie, but I don’t know how to control it,” admitted Daniel, “I want nothing more than to be able to talk about my experiences with ease the way you just did, but…”

“I understand,” said Lim sympathetically, “And I can’t promise you it ever fully goes away, but you can learn to live with it. I mean, the COVID pandemic in 2020 was awful for me. The news was constantly reminding me about what I had gone through, and I had a newborn at home and I was a first-time mom. But I had found my support system with my husband and friends along with my therapist. If you’d like, I know a therapist who specializes in PTSD and she also offers couples counseling. Not only will she help you through your trauma, but she teaches you techniques on how to stay calm during flashbacks and also helps partners understand their significant other’s feelings and vice versa. She gave me my life back; I can help you schedule an appointment with her if you’d like?”

Daniel and Suzanne looked at each other again and Suzanne squeezed her husband’s hand. He nodded, “Okay.”

******************************************************************************************************************************************* 

Later that night, Lim and Mei-Li were preparing dinner while Melendez worked on some forms in the office. Lim turned to Mei-Li and said, “You were right about Daniel and Suzanne,” Mei-Li grinned proudly and Lim said, “Don’t give me the same smug look your father does when I stroke his ego. I’m still your mother and your boss.”

“Fine,” said Mei-Li. She took a nervous breath and said, “So, the holiday gala is next Friday.”

“Mmhm,” nodded Lim, “And?”

“I don’t know whether or not I should ask Caroline to go with me,” admitted Mei-Li.

Lim nodded and said, “Well, what do you want to do?”

“I _want_ to go with her,” said Mei-Li, “And I know she likes me and we’ve been out with Morgan and Claire. I just don’t know if she’d want to go to something this major because she might not be like me.”

“Out and proud?” Lim asked jokingly.

“Yes,” said Mei-Li, “All of those donors are going to be there and former hospital employees and current surgeons…it’s all so overwhelming.”

“Well, I can’t say I understand exactly how you’re feeling, because I’ve never had to have the same fears about disclosing a relationship the way you do, but I can try to offer some advice,” Mei-Li nodded and Lim continued, “Have I told you the story of how I got together with your father?”

“Many times, but I’m sure you’d be glad to tell me again,” quipped Mei-Li.

“Well, I did what you did—denied my feelings for him, told myself it was just a great friendship, told myself it wasn’t good to get involved with him because all of my feelings for him were fake, and to keep it a professional and platonic relationship. Guess what? The heart won out in the end.”

“After some bourbon,” said Mei-Li.

“Smart ass,” Lim smiled at her, “The point is, there’s no use running away from feelings, because somehow, it will catch up with you and make a fool out of you.”

************************************************************************************************************************************************* 

Mei-Li finally gained the courage to talk to Caroline for the first time since their kiss. She sat down across from her in the cafeteria and Caroline smiled when she saw her fellow resident, “Hi Mei-Li.”

“Hi,” Mei-Li greeted, “Listen…about the last time we spoke…”

“Where we kissed and admitted we like each other?” asked Caroline hesitantly.

“Yes, that time,” said Mei-Li, “Well, the holiday gala is next week and…I was wondering…if you wanted to go together?”

Caroline lowered her voice, “Like on a date?”

“Yes,” said Mei-Li, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I understand. Oh, and I’m not a lesbian, I’m bisexual,” Mei-Li blurted out nervously.

“Okay,” Caroline chuckled amusingly.

“That bothers some people, and with the biphobia out there, I wanted to lay the cards out on the table from the beginning. Can you tell talking about my feelings isn’t my strong suit?”

“Mei-Li,” Caroline took Mei-Li’s hands in hers, “I would love to go to the gala with you.”


	11. Chapter 11

On the evening of the gala, all three members of the Limlendez household not away at college were busy preparing for the festivities of the evening. Mei-Li could hear her parents mutually lamenting about the upcoming event, but she was looking forward to tonight. Well, she was excited and nervous all at once. She heard a knock on her bedroom door and she said, “Come in.”

Lim entered the room, wearing a floor-length blue dress with a gold pattern design on it. She came in behind Mei-Li and laid her hands on her daughter’s shoulders, “I don’t think I’ve seen you wear a dress like this since your senior prom.”

“And I’m still not any better with walking in heels since Dad put my first pair on me eleven years ago,” Mei-Li chuckled and turned around to face her mother.

“Hey,” Lim grabbed Mei-Li’s hands and said, “Don’t worry about what others think and have fun tonight. And if you have any problems, you know I’m more than willing to take care of it.”

“Oh, it’s not that,” said Mei-Li, “It’s just that I haven’t been on an official date since Jenny and I broke up.”

“Getting back into the dating scene is hard after a tough breakup,” Lim nodded in agreement, “But don’t let your past experiences with relationships keep you from being happy.”

“Sounds like some saying you’d find in a fortune cookie,” Mei-Li joked, “And Dad had to practically pull your teeth to get you to go out with him.”

“What can I say? Both Lims and Melendezes are stubborn. And you have both sets of genes,” said Lim.

Mei-Li glanced at the time and said, “Well, I promised Caroline I’d pick her up from her apartment at 6:30. I’ll see you at the hospital.”

“Okay, I love you sweetheart,” said Lim.

“I love you too, Mom,” said Mei-Li.

Mei-Li drove over to Caroline’s apartment building and made sure she had the correct number before hesitantly knocking on the door. Caroline answered and softly said, “Hi.”

“Hi,” said Mei-Li, “May I come in?”

“Yeah, of course,” said Caroline, stepping aside.

After Mei-Li entered the room, she took a good look at Caroline, who was wearing a floor-length emerald green dress, “Wow,” said Mei-Li, “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks. You do too,” commented Caroline, “With your red dress and my green one, we’ll match with the Christmas/holiday theme.”

“That we will,” admitted Mei-Li, “Well, I guess we should get going?”

Caroline nodded, “Our first official date.”

******************************************************************************************************************************************** 

When the women arrived at St. Bonaventure, there was already plenty of action around them. White lights twinkled overhead; there was a Christmas tree along with a table that had a Menorah and a Kinara on top of it. People were talking, laughing, dancing, eating, and drinking. Mei-Li glanced around the room and noticed Shaun, Claire, Morgan, Park, and Mia all standing around one table while her parents were conversing with former president, Dr. Marcus Andrews, and his wife, Isabel. Megan was at the open bar and Eric was talking with another woman, whom Mei-Li assumed was his girlfriend. She felt someone grab her hand and squeeze it before Caroline asked, “Are you ready?”

Mei-Li nodded, “I’m ready,” they entered the ballroom hand in hand and Mei-Li asked, “So did you want to get a drink?”

“You read my mind,” said Caroline.

They ordered a glass of bourbon and a margarita before joining Eric. He smiled and said, “Mei-Li, Caroline, nice to see you.”

“Same,” said Caroline.

“Ladies, I’d like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Kate Burke. Kate, this is Mei-Li Lim-Melendez and Caroline Cho.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kate smiled.

“You too,” said Mei-Li.

The four conversed for a little while longer when Lifehouse’s _You and Me_ began to play. Eric led Kate onto the dance floor and Mei-Li saw Lim and Melendez, Andrews and Isabel, Shaun and Claire, and Park and Mia join the many other couples. Caroline hesitantly looked over at Mei-Li and asked, “So…did you want to dance?”

Mei-Li glanced at Caroline and casually said, “My parents are here.”

“So?” asked Caroline.

“Okay, maybe you’ll understand it this way; my overprotective Latino father who has the power to make your life a living hell is here,” Mei-Li clarified.

“Well, I’m not scared of Dr. Melendez,” Caroline chuckled and dragged Mei-Li out onto the dance floor. The two women wrapped their arms around each other and swayed in time with the music. Mei-Li noticed her father staring at them, only to have Lim look over in their direction and promptly turn Melendez around; that didn’t stop him from turning his head again.

“Just to let you know, I’m pretty sure Dad is still a proud, unofficial member of Father’s Against Daughters Dating,” said Mei-Li.

“He cares about you; it’s nice to see that,” said Caroline.

************************************************************************************************************************ 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Melendez and Lim were dancing and Melendez said, “They’re dancing together, Audrey.”

Lim turned her head to find her daughter and Caroline slow dancing together. She quickly spun her husband around to keep him from spying on them, but it wasn’t successful, as he immediately turned his head, “Neil,” she said teasingly, “Your wife is in front of you, not behind you.”

Melendez went back to looking at Lim and said, “Should we consider forbidding her from dating until she’s thirty-five?”

“That’s less than nine years from now,” said Lim, “If you think you’re nervous with Mei-Li dating again, remember how nervous you were to start dating again after you ended things with Jessica?”

Melendez sighed, “Fair point. But I still have the right to be protective as her father.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you,” said Lim.

“I just can’t help but always wonder…what if this relationship leads to marriage? I’ll be walking her down the aisle. Then, I become an abuelito if she wants kids…”

“Neil, you’re getting ahead of yourself. Just try to enjoy the ride,” said Lim, kissing him.

He leaned his forehead against hers and asked, “What would I do without you?”

************************************************************************************************************************************* 

At the end of the night, Mei-Li drove Caroline home and walked her up to her apartment, “I had a really nice time with you tonight.”

“I did too,” said Caroline, “Proud that the only person staring at us the entire night was Dr. Melendez.”

Mei-Li laughed lightly and said, “So…given the fact that we had a good time tonight, I was hoping that…we could see each other again sometime. And then again after that, and then again after that, and…”

“Mei-Li,” Caroline interrupted her, “Are you asking me to go steady with you?”

“I don’t know,” said Mei-Li, “If you want to keep it casual, that’s fine too.”

“Well, do _you_ want to keep it casual?” asked Caroline.

Mei-Li pondered the question before she whispered, “No, I’m just scared. I really like you and you’re the first person I’ve considered dating since my last relationship ended.”

“Mei-Li, we can take things slowly. We don’t have to rush anything,” Caroline said comfortingly.

“Okay,” said Mei-Li.

Caroline leaned in and softly kissed Mei-Li. She smiled and said, “Have a good night, Mei-Li.”

“You too.”


	12. Chapter 12

Over the next few weeks, things went well in Mei-Li’s life. The family had a wonderful Christmas and Jimmy and Isabella had revealed to the family they were having a girl. Mei-Li couldn’t wait to introduce her newest prima to the Disney princess and do her hardest to make little Carmen Ramirez learned to love ballet and theater as much as she did. Her residency was going well and, oh yeah, she had beautiful girlfriend.

***************************************************************************************************************************** 

It was turning into a long shift for the doctors on call. Melendez, Morgan, Shaun, and Caroline were all working on a complex case; Melendez and Morgan had both determined it was much too complex to not have a least one higher administrator involved, so he was with the team to discuss the logistics. They were standing in front of the administrative desk in the main lobby when a brunette woman walked into the building. Everyone in the group except Caroline grew quiet, a look of bitterness overtaking Melendez’s face. Caroline turned to face the woman, and she was indeed beautiful, but she didn’t see why the other surgeons were so silent, “Who is that?” asked Caroline softly.

“That’s Jenny Truscott, Mei-Li’s ex-girlfriend,” announced Shaun boldly.

Caroline’s face fell, “As in…as in the one she was with for seven years?”

“She’s the one,” Shaun confirmed.

Jenny saw the group and started walking towards them, “Dr. Murphy, Dr. Reznick, Dr. Cho, why don’t you go tell our patient her updated prognosis?” said Melendez, though everyone except Shaun understood it was command and not a question. Morgan promptly pulled him away with her. Caroline went with them, but she couldn’t help but look back at Jenny once more.

Jenny approached Melendez and smiled to ease the tension, “Dr. Melendez,” she said.

“Jennifer,” answered Melendez, not even bothering to use her nickname or Dr. Truscott, “How’s Miami?”

“Fine, sir,” said Jenny, “And how have you been?”

“Well, I’m happy to report that my family is doing well, considering the last time we saw you, you and Mei-Li went on a date where you promptly proceeded to break my daughter’s heart,” Melendez quipped.

“Where’s Mei-Li?” asked Jenny, ignoring Melendez’s obvious resentment.

“She’s in surgery with Dr. Browne-Murphy,” said Melendez, turning to walk towards his office.

“Once she’s out, can you please tell her I want to talk to her?” asked Jenny.

Melendez sighed, but said, “Fine, she gets off in two hours. I’ll tell her you’re here; but if she doesn’t want to talk with you, then I’m not going to force her.”

“Thank you,” said Jenny, “I’ll be in the cafeteria if she wants to talk to me.”

Melendez sighed and began the journey back to his office. He had really felt for Mei-Li when Jenny had ended their relationship. Sure, Lim knew the pain of divorce, but Lim and Kashal hadn’t had a great marriage to being with, so it wasn’t surprising when it ended. He, however, had thought things were fine with Jessica, so when she said she wanted to break up, he had been completely blindsided. It all worked out for the better in the long run, but he knew what Mei-Li was experiencing when she came home the night of the breakup. He sent Mei-Li a text so she would receive it once she was out of surgery.

It was only an hour later when he heard a knock on his office, “Come in.”

Mei-Li entered and said, “You wanted to see me.”

“I did,” Mei-Li took a seat and Melendez said, “Don’t worry, this is personal, mija.”

Mei-Li didn’t relax, “About what?”

Melendez took a deep breath. He didn’t want to tell Mei-Li about Jenny’s arrival, but he was a man of his word and he had promised Jenny he would, “Jenny’s here.”

Mei-Li’s eyes widened, “As in Jenny Truscott. As in the woman whom was my first real love who…”

“Yes, that Jenny, mija,” affirmed Melendez, “She’s in the cafeteria.”

“What is she doing here?” asked Mei-Li through gritted teeth.

“She’s here to talk to you. That’s all she told me,” said Melendez.

“Did you talk to her?”

“Yes, don’t worry, I didn’t say anything out of line,” said Melendez.

It was Mei-Li’s turn to sigh in frustration, “Does Mom know she’s here?”

“No, I don’t think so,” said Melendez, “But you might want to know that…Caroline saw Jenny this morning.”

Mei-Li’s eyes widened yet again, “Does she know who she is and that she’s my ex?”

“Unfortunately, thanks to Dr. Murphy, yes,” answered Melendez, “I just didn’t want you to be surprised if she mentioned anything.”

Mei-Li nodded and stood, not quite sure if she was going to go seek Jenny yet. She had to go change first anyhow. As she was about to leave, she turned to face her father and asked, “Dad?” he looked up from his laptop, “You were dumped by someone once. What’s the protocol for interacting with women who broke your heart out of nowhere?”

Melendez laughed, as Mei-Li was exactly like him in regards to using sarcasm to hide nervousness, “I don’t think I can answer that, mija.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Mei-Li said and left.

****************************************************************************************************************************** 

Mei-Li changed and went to the cafeteria. Her eyes immediately landed on her: the first person she had ever truly loved, the one who had taken her virginity, the person she had poured her heart and soul towards, only to have it trampled on after seven years together. Mei-Li forced a smile and walked over to Jenny, “Hi Jenny,” she said.

Jenny looked up and said, “Hi Mei-Li,” the two women awkwardly hugged and Jenny asked, “How are you?”

“Fine,” answered Mei-Li, “Dad said you wanted to talk to me about something.”

Jenny looked around the cafeteria and said, “Yes, but I don’t want to do it here. There are too many people we know. Can you meet me at Starbucks and we can have a more private conversation?” Mei-Li hesitated, “I promise, I won’t pay for your drink.”

“Alright,” Mei-Li said. The two women walked towards the parking garages, Mei-Li hoping no one they knew would see them together. Thankfully, they managed to make it to Starbucks without being spotted, “One Grande Caramel Frappuccino, please,” Mei-Li ordered.

They made her drink and she sat down across from Jenny, “So, how are Dr. Melendez, Dr. Lim-Melendez, and Carlos?” asked Jenny.

“Fine,” Mei-Li answered and shrugged her shoulders, “Carlos graduates from Berkeley this year. I think he’s really happy with the career path he chose since he took a year off after high school to decide. Mom and Dad are still doing what they did when we dated. How’s Miami?”

“It’s great,” responded Jenny, “Great beaches, nice weather, lots of culture, and Jackson Memorial is a wonderful hospital. But one thing is missing.”

“What?” asked Mei-Li, taking a sip of her beverage.

“You,” said Jenny.

It took all Mei-Li could to keep from choking, “What?”

“You’re what’s missing, Mei-Li,” said Jenny.

“And you flew from Miami to San Jose to tell me that you missed me? And how are you here and not working?” asked Mei-Li.

“We get vacation time, Mei-Li,” said Jenny, “And I wanted to tell you something face to face.”

Mei-Li nodded, “What’s that?”

“Look, someone in my residency program just up and dropped out, decided medicine wasn’t for him. Personally, I wouldn’t have gone all through med school and gone into debt to discover that, but not important. Anyway, there’s an opening at Jackson Memorial.”

“Again, you flew all the way from Miami to tell me this?” asked Mei-Li.

“Mei-Li, I want you to consider transferring your residency into that spot,” said Jenny. Mei-Li froze, “I know that’s probably not what you expected, but I think it would be good for you.”

“Why, I like my life here in San Jose,” said Mei-Li, “And St. Bonaventure has one of the top surgical residency programs in the country.”

“I know, but think about it, Mei-Li. If you transfer your residency to Jackson Memorial, you can be your own person. You won’t be the president and Chief of Surgery’s daughter. You won’t be the girl who grew up at St. Bonaventure. You’ll have your own identity.”

“What makes you think I don’t have my own identity here?” asked Mei-Li.

“I’m not saying you don’t. But come on, Mei-Li, there are always going to be people who think you’re at St. Bonaventure solely because of your parents…”

“But I don’t plan on taking an attending surgeon position there, and even if I did want to, Mom and Dad weren’t planning on offering me one,” said Mei-Li.

“Which means you won’t be staying at St. Bonaventure forever. And if you came to Miami, we could have a life, a family, everything we dreamed about in college and med school. We could have it all.”

“Jenny,” Mei-Li said, “I know you mean well, but my whole life is here in California. My parents, my brother, my friends…”

“And the rest of your family members are in other states, other countries even,” said Jenny.

“Jenny, I’m also seeing someone,” said Mei-Li.

“Oh,” Jenny’s face fell, “What’s his or her name, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Her name is Caroline. She’s a surgical resident with me at St. Bonaventure. We’ve only been together for about a month, but she’s incredible.”

“Mei-Li, you’ve been with this woman a month. We were together for seven years…”

“Until you up and left for Miami without even letting me know that you were considering Jackson Memorial for your residency,” Mei-Li interjected.

“Look Mei-Li, I’m not asking you to immediately uproot your life; I’m just asking you to consider it.”

Mei-Li finished her drink. She said, “Fine, I’ll think about it.”

Jenny scribbled some phone numbers on a piece of paper and slid it across the table, “The first number is mine and the second one is the Chief of Surgery at Jackson Memorial. He can give you more information than I can.”

Mei-Li took the numbers, stuck them in her purse, and stood, “Do you need me to drive you back to your hotel?”

“No, I can just take an Uber to where I’m staying,” said Jenny.

Mei-Li nodded and said, “Well, have a good night.”

************************************************************************************************************************************* 

When Mei-Li arrived home, Melendez was the only one there, “Where’s Mom?” asked Mei-Li.

“She had to call an emergency board meeting. She didn’t know how long she was going to be, so I guess it’s just you and me tonight, mija,” said Melendez.

“Alright,” said Mei-Li.

“Hey mija, if you don’t mind me asking, what did Jenny want?” asked Melendez.

Mei-Li grabbed a Coke from the refrigerator and sat down next to Melendez, “She said there’s an opening for a surgical resident at Jackson Memorial in Miami and asked me to consider it.”

“Are you?” asked Melendez in surprise.

“No, of course not. I just took the phone number to be polite,” said Mei-Li, “I like it at St. Bonaventure and I love everyone there. Mostly.”

Melendez chuckled, “There’s a but, isn’t there?"

“No,” said Mei-Li, “Maybe.”

“I know you normally talk about these kinds of things with your mother, but if you want to vent, I’ll listen,” said Melendez.

Mei-Li buried her face into her hands and said, “I feel guilty that I briefly considered it.”

“Why?” asked Melendez.

“Because you’re here and Mom’s here and Carlos is here and Abuelito and Abuelita are here and so is Tía Gabi, not to mention all of my friends. And Caroline. If I just up and leave, I’ll be doing the exact same thing to her that Jenny did to me.”

“Well mija,” Melendez took a sip of his bourbon he had sitting on the coffee table, “Once Carlos graduates this May, there’s no guarantee he won’t move to another state.”

“Dad, we live fifteen minutes from Silicon Valley,” said Mei-Li.

“Fair point, but still,” said Melendez, “And in regards to your mother and me, we have friends and co-workers. We’d be fine.”

“Mom’s lungs have slowly been deteriorating as you both get older,” said Mei-Li sadly, “Her last appointment, the fibrosis was straddling the line between moderate and severe. I don’t want to be on the other side of the country if and when it hits end-stage. I know you tell me and Carlos not to worry, but it gets just a little worse with every cold and flu season.”

“I know, mija,” said Melendez. There was no use arguing with his daughter now that she had a med school education.

“And Caroline…I know we’ve only been together for a month, but she’s…so special,” Mei-Li smiled to herself.

“Well, I can’t tell you what to do, and I know I’m going to sound like a chick flick or a romance novel, but you’re basically in a love triangle and you have to decide who you want to be with more: Jenny or Caroline.”

“Neil, I’m home. Finally,” Lim unlocked the front door. She coughed a little as she set her helmet on the table inside the door and placed her bag next to Melendez’s briefcase.

“Well, I’m going to go upstairs. It’s been a long day,” said Mei-Li, “Good night Mom, good night Dad.”

“Good night sweetheart,” Mei-Li heard Lim call. But Mei-Li knew, deep down, she wouldn’t be getting much sleep that night.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: While this chapter isn't directly about the pandemic, the end of this chapter and the next few chapters will refer back to Quarantine Parts One and Two.

As she had predicted, Mei-Li didn’t get much sleep that night, though she was at least grateful that she had until the end of March to make a final decision in regards to transferring her residency to Jackson Memorial. And while she would have liked to see Jenny off at the airport, she had to work, so she sent her a quick farewell text before scrubbing in for surgery. 

Meanwhile, it was a week before Valentine’s Day and Shaun and Mei-Li were performing a coronary bypass when Shaun asked out of the blue, “So what are you and Caroline doing for Valentine’s Day?” 

“What?” asked Mei-Li, shifting her focus from the patient to Shaun. 

“I asked what you and Caroline are doing for Valentine’s Day. You’re a couple and couples do nice things for each other on Valentine’s Day to show how much they love each other,” said Shaun. 

“I…don’t know what we’re doing,” Mei-Li admitted. Goodness, her life had been so busy the past few weeks, she and Caroline had only gone on one brief dinner date since Christmas, “I guess I’ll have to talk to her. What are you and Dr. Browne-Murphy doing?”

“We don’t do anything or go anywhere. We stay home because the restaurants are too crowded on Valentine’s Day,” explained Shaun, “But we always have wine even though I don’t drink much.” 

They finished the bypass surgery and wheeled their patient to the ICU and Mei-Li decided to squeeze in her lunch break before making rounds. She scanned the cafeteria and found Caroline sitting by the window, so she walked over to her, “Hi,” said Mei-Li and kissed Caroline on the cheek. 

“Hi,” Caroline smiled. 

“So…” Mei-Li began, “Next week is Valentine’s Day.” 

“I know,” said Caroline. 

“Do you have to work?” asked Mei-Li. 

“From 7-3, then I’m off for the rest of the evening. How about you?” 

“Same. I was hoping maybe we could do something for Valentine’s Day. It will be our first,” said Mei-Li. 

Caroline smiled and said, “How about I make a reservation for a nice restaurant downtown and after dinner, we can go back to my place and spend some time alone together.” 

“As in?” Mei-Li asked. 

“If you’re ready,” said Caroline. Mei-Li nodded, “Great. I have to meet Dr. Browne-Murphy for rounds. I’ll call you and we can arrange plans. I’ll see you later,” Caroline kissed Mei-Li and left the cafeteria. 

**************************************************************************************************************************** 

On Valentine’s Day, Mei-Li took the opportunity to wear her favorite blue dress for Caroline and did her make-up perfectly. Her parents had gone out to dinner, but she had already let them know she would be going back to Caroline’s apartment after dinner and that they might have the house to themselves all night. Soon, Mei-Li heard Caroline knocking, so she went downstairs to let her in, “Hi honey,” Mei-Li kissed her. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Caroline answered. Mei-Li let her into the living room and Caroline gazed at some of the pictures on the walls: official family portraits, some of Lim and Melendez’s wedding photos, most of them were of Carlos and Mei-Li throughout various times of their childhoods, “You look like a sugar plum fairy in this one,” Caroline chuckled. 

“That was my quinces; aka, when fifteen year old Latina girls become women in the Latinx community and wear the poofiest pink dress they can find,” Mei-Li laughed. 

“Your mother looked beautiful on her wedding day,” commented Caroline. 

“You’re lucky they’re not here right now, or you’d be forced to look at pictures of me with wedding cake all over my face,” said Mei-Li. 

“Our reservation is for seven. We should really get going,” said Caroline. Mei-Li grabbed her purse and locked the front door before getting into the front seat of Caroline’s car. As they were driving, Caroline said, “You’re lucky, you know?” Mei-Li looked over at Caroline, “You’re lucky to have such a supportive family. They don’t care who you date as long as you’re happy.” 

“Well, I can’t say everyone reacted the way Mom and Dad did. Carlos was actually the first person I came out to and his response was ‘that’s the one where you like dudes and chicks, right?’, and once I said yes, for me at least, he said ‘cool’ and went back to his video game,” said Mei-Li, “But my grandparents were shocked, to say the least. It took them several months to accept the fact that I might marry a woman someday, which obviously eliminates the possibility of a Catholic wedding ceremony. And then there are a few tíos and tías who never fully accepted it. Always asking about my boyfriend, even when I was dating a woman,” Caroline nodded in understanding, “How about you?” 

“Well, I grew up in a traditional Korean Catholic family. All my life, I knew I was different, but I didn’t come out as a lesbian to my parents until I was seventeen. After that…they didn’t throw me out or anything, and they still paid for my education and all that, but I know they aren’t pleased. They think it’s a phase and that I just haven’t met the right man yet. You know, all of the cliché and insulting phrases lesbians hear. Even though Massachusetts is an LGBTQ friendly state, I decided to move to California so I could have my own life and start over.” 

“I’m sorry,” said Mei-Li. 

“Don’t be; I’ve been happier now than I ever was before in my life,” Caroline assured her. 

They arrived at the restaurant and had pleasant meal before Caroline drove back to her apartment. Mei-Li had never been in the room before, only the outside to pick her up for some dates here and there. She noticed pictures of Caroline with her parents, so Caroline obviously still cared about them enough to display them. There was a House Stark poster framed on the living room wall as well as some Berkley and Red Sox paraphernalia, “I can take down the Berkeley poster if it bothers you,” Caroline said jokingly. 

“No, just knowing that Stanford usually beats you is enough to satisfy me,” said Mei-Li and took the glass of wine from Caroline. The two women sat down on the couch and Mei-Li said, “Besides, Carlos’s bedroom is adorned with Berkley paraphernalia just to get on Mom’s nerves. He even tried being a Dodgers fan as a teenager, but that lasted about three weeks until he realized he couldn’t give up his love for the Giants just to be rebellious.” 

Caroline chuckled, “As long as none of your family members are Yankees fans; that’s where I draw the line.” 

“No one that I know of,” said Mei-Li and took a sip of wine. They drank their beverages in comfortable silence and set their glasses on the coffee table before Mei-Li hesitantly asked, “So…did you still want to, you know, have sex?” 

Caroline stroked Mei-Li’s hand and said, “Only if you’re ready.”

“I’m ready, but I haven’t been with anyone since, you know, Jenny, so I might be a little rusty,” said Mei-Li. 

Caroline leaned in and kissed her, “That’s okay. I want to, no matter how rusty you are,” they continued their kissing when Caroline stopped her, “Do you have any sort of protection?” 

“Oh I have dental dams, condoms, I’m on the pill…I have all my ducks in a row,” Mei-Li confirmed. 

“But I can’t get you pregnant,” said Caroline. 

“Hello, the whole bi thing?” Mei-Li raised an eyebrow. 

Caroline smiled, and that was when Mei-Li realized she was teasing her, “Shall we take this to the bedroom?” 

Mei-Li nodded, “I’m all yours.” 

******************************************************************************************************************************* 

The couple lay in bed together, holding hands, enjoying the comfortable silence between them when Caroline said, “Well, even though it’s been a while for you, you weren’t half-bad.” 

Mei-Li rolled over and kissed Caroline softly, “You weren’t half-bad yourself, Cho.” 

Mei-Li’s cell phone began to ring, so Caroline asked, “Why is your phone on?” 

“Because we’re surgeons,” said Mei-Li. She checked the caller ID, and it was her father, so she answered, “Hi Dad. Where are you? What happened: car accident, massive fire?” Mei-Li’s face fell as she listened to Melendez on the other end, “What happened?” a few tears started to stream down her cheeks, “Okay, I’ll be there soon. Te quiero. Bye,” she hung up, got out of bed, and started throwing her clothes on, “I have to get to the hospital.” 

Caroline could tell something was seriously wrong, so she asked, “Honey, what’s wrong?” 

“It’s Mom,” Mei-Li answered, “Dad said he and Mom were…well, he wouldn’t tell me what exactly they were doing, but I could infer from context,” a look of disgust briefly overtook Mei-Li’s face, “Anyway, all of a sudden, Mom started having trouble breathing and Dad had to take her to emergency room.” 

“Then we have to get you over there,” said Caroline, dressing as well. 

“No,” said Mei-Li, “It’s not your concern.” 

“Mei-Li,” Caroline laid her hands on Mei-Li’s shoulders, “You shouldn’t be alone for this. I want to be there to support you. Please let me drive you to the hospital and stay with you.” 

Mei-Li wrapped her arms around Caroline and Caroline kissed her temple, “Okay.” 


	14. Chapter 14

As Caroline drove to the hospital, Mei-Li prayed the ‘Our Father’ and ‘Hail Mary’ over and over again, her Catholic upbringing coming through even though she hadn’t been to church since Carlos’s confirmation. They arrived at the hospital and walked over to the main service desk, “Audrey Lim-Melendez, where is she?” asked Mei-Li.

The receptionist looked up the information and said, “She’s in room 308 of the ICU.”

“Thank you,” said Mei-Li. Mei-Li and Caroline walked to Intensive Care and found Lim’s room. Mei-Li knocked and Melendez came out into the common area, “Dad,” Mei-Li hugged him.

“Mija,” he hugged her back and kissed her temple.

“What happened?” asked Mei-Li.

“I took your mother to the ER, they did a chest x-ray, and she has a pneumothorax. They don’t know exactly what caused it, but they inserted a chest tube and they’re going to keep her here for a few nights, as long as the chest tube is in at least,” said Melendez.

“Did you call Carlos?” asked Mei-Li.

“I did, he’s on his way from Berkeley,” said Melendez, “I don’t know how long it’ll take him to get here though.”

“With the way he drives that death machine, he’ll be here in less than an hour,” said Mei-Li. Melendez smiled to try to ease the tension and said, “I’ll go wait for him in the lobby.”

Melendez nodded and Mei-Li and Caroline turned to go the main entrance, Mei-Li wrapping herself in her coat since she was still wearing a dress and heels, “We should take you home so you can change into more comfortable clothes.”

“I don’t want to leave here,” said Mei-Li.

“Your house isn’t that far. You’ll be more comfortable in jeans than a dress,” said Caroline, “Besides, it’ll take a while for your brother to get here.”

“Fine,” Mei-Li agreed, though once she arrived home, Mei-Li changed in a flash, so they drove back to the hospital. Mei-Li anxiously paced the lobby and said, “A pneumothorax. God, that’s a new one.”

“That’s never happened before?” asked Caroline.

Mei-Li shook her head and sat down next to her girlfriend, “No, Mom’s had to be rushed to the hospital for breathing issues before, but she’s never had a collapsed lung.”

Caroline looked over at Mei-Li and said, “I know it’s not really any of my business, but is your mom’s lung problem congenital?”

Mei-Li shook her head, “No,” she paused, “A couple years before I was born, Mom got a SARS or COVID like virus while working the ER. Doctors never fully figured out what it was. But it left her with lasting pulmonary fibrosis that’s just gotten worse over the years. Ironically, it’s the reason Mom and Dad got together. But it’s been rough.”

“I’m sorry,” said Caroline.

A few tears streamed down Mei-Li’s cheeks, “Last year was the worst. Shortly after Christmas, Mom got pneumonia. She was sick at home for a week, then had to be rushed to the hospital and put on a ventilator for four days, spent another week in the hospital after that, then another two weeks at home. And we weren’t sure she was coming off of that ventilator the first few days. And I couldn’t stay long because I was still in med school doing my clinical rotations.”

Caroline’s heart broke Mei-Li, so she took her hand and kissed it, “I’m here for you.”

**************************************************************************************************************************************** 

When Carlos arrived, everyone went back to the ICU to see Lim. Caroline squeezed Mei-Li’s hand and said, “I’ll be out here waiting.”

Mei-Li nodded and the siblings entered the room, “Mom,” Mei-Li said and walked over to Lim’s bedside.

Lim saw Carlos and Mei-Li and looked over at Melendez, “Neil, I told you not to call them.”

“Well, I didn’t listen,” said Melendez.

“How are you feeling?” asked Carlos.

“Like someone ran over my chest with one of our motorcycles,” said Lim, attempting to lighten the somber mood.

“Mom,” Mei-Li scolded.

“In all seriousness, Claire should be coming by with test results soon,” said Lim.

They waited for several more minutes when Claire finally entered the room, “Mei-Li, Carlos,” she smiled softly, but then gained a serious look.

“We’ll go,” said Mei-Li.

“No, we want you to stay. Go ahead, Dr. Browne-Murphy,” said Lim.

“Your pulmonary function test results show that your pulmonary fibrosis has entered an advanced stage,” informed Claire.

“How did this happen?” asked Mei-Li.

“We can’t pinpoint the specific cause for the pneumothorax or the sudden flare up, but Dr. Lim-Melendez’s pneumonia battle last year might have caused it to progress more quickly. Also too much activity and stress can cause a flare up. But usually someone has worsening symptoms to indicate exacerbation,” Claire eyed Lim, knowing her boss’s habit to ignore warning signs of declining health. Melendez and Mei-Li also eyed Lim.

Lim sighed and said, “I’ve been more stressed at work because of a few mas casualty events, plus there have been several holidays, and I might have had a cold over the past few weeks.”

“Audrey,” said Melendez.

“As a result of the progression, you’ll need an increase in your steroid as well as oxygen therapy,” said Claire.

“For how long?” asked Melendez.

“Permanently,” said Claire. 

“Can someone please use plain English to explain to the non-doctor in the room what’s going on?” asked Carlos.

“Mom needs oxygen for the rest of her life and she’s slowly suffocating to death,” said Mei-Li bluntly.

“Mei-Li,” said Lim.

“It’s the truth,” she said angrily.

“Mija,” warned Melendez.

Mei-Li sighed and asked, “What about a lung transplant?”

“Mei-Li, no,” said Lim.

“Mom,” Mei-Li begged.

“Mei-Li, I’ll be reaching the age limit this year. There are many other people out there who need lungs more than me. I’ll pursue other treatment options,” said Lim.

Mei-Li took a deep breath and choked back tears, “Fine.”

“I’ll leave you all alone,” said Claire.

Claire left the room and Melendez turned to his children, “Mei-Li, Carlos, would you let your mother and I discuss something?”

“Of course,” said Carlos.

“I’m going to go find Caroline and get some food,” said Mei-Li.

The two of them left the room and Melendez turned to face Lim. He took a deep breath and said, “Audrey, we need to talk, and you’re not going to want to hear what I have to say,” Lim raised her eyebrows at him as he took a seat in the chair in her room, “Audrey, given your age and your failing health, I think it’s time to start talking…retirement.”

Lim’s eyes widened and she said, “Neil, no!”

“Audrey, if you continue working, your job might literally kill you,” said Melendez, “And you’ll need to carry portable oxygen with you. You can’t operate on people while wearing a portable oxygen concentrator.”

“Then I’ll stay out of the OR and do lighter desk work, maybe supervise the ER some too,” said Lim and coughed.

“Audrey,” Melendez took her hand, “I know you love what you do. But you’ve dedicated nearly forty years of your life to this hospital. You’ve been running it in the top position for the last ten years. You were St. Bonaventure’s first female president. You’ve had a good career. You’ve earned a good retirement,” said Melendez, “And I want you to be alive so we can spend our golden years together.”

“That’s just it Neil,” Lim said and coughed a little, “If I retire, you’ll become the president and Reznick will become Chief of Surgery. You’ll be still working, so we won’t see each other much. At least if I’m working, we can see each other here.”

“But it won’t be much longer until I retire; I'll be president long enough for Reznick to figure out who she wants to make Chief of Surgery. And then, we can do things together. We can go to Hawaii like you always wanted. We can try to watch all of the _Harry Potter_ or _Star Wars_ movies in 24 hours or read all seven _Harry Potter_ books in a week. But I want you to be alive when I retire. I want to be able to walk Mei-Li and Carlos down the aisle with you if they get married. I want to be able to hold our grandkids with you if we become an abuelito and an ama,” Melendez started to cry a little, “Audrey, you’ve had a great career, all while raising two wonderful, caring children, and having the privilege of having a sexy husband…”

“Neil,” Lim laughed and coughed, “You might have started out that way, but your temples are gray, your six pack disappeared about fifteen years ago, and your deer tattoo looks more like some sort of saggy moose.”

“But you still think I’m sexy,” said Melendez.

“I think you’re an asshat,” said Lim.

“But I’m your asshat,” said Melendez. He kissed and said, “And I love you, so _please_ consider my suggestion.”

Lim took a deep breath and squeezed his hand, “Okay.”

***************************************************************************************************************************************** 

Meanwhile, Mei-Li and Caroline had gone outside to get some fresh air after eating while Carlos tried to let Berkeley know about his current situation. Caroline turned to Mei-Li and said, “Your mom’s going to be okay. I know I haven’t known Dr. Lim-Melendez long, but I can tell she’s a fighter.”

Mei-Li smiled softly, “Thanks.”

Caroline hesitated before she said, “I love you, Mei-Li.”

Mei-Li was a little surprised by Caroline’s admission, but she took her hand, squeezed it and said, “I love you too.” 


End file.
